Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Parallel
by TPBvirus
Summary: 100 years into the future, humanity has achieved peace with each other and has expanded its influence throughout the solar system. The Grey Matter, an ELS type organism, threatens to end this peace and destroy humanity. The Eternal and its crew are all that stands between humanity and this enemy.
1. Introduction

Hey guys,

I'm excited you all are here and I'll try to do the best I can to make as complete a story as possible with Gundam SEED Parallel. I was inspired to write this after I watched the HD Remaster of the Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny series and will be incorporating a lot of references to those two series, mostly in the characters and the technology. In addition, I will be playing with the idea of Parallel Universes and that the world of Gundam SEED is one of the many Gundam worlds, sort of like DCs infinite Earths. So the characters will most likely encounter characters across other Gundam series.

So take note: You may want to have Gundam Wiki open if you're not familiar with Gundam. It has all the information you'll need on certain characters, factions, and tech that will be in this fanfic.

If I had an active youtube channel this would be the part where I'd say, "I hope you all enjoyed the video and please Like, Comment, and Subscribe," but I don't so we'll leave it at that.

And without further ado...

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Parallel.

 **PROLOGUE**

 **CE (Cosmic Era) - 84**

Earth and the PLANTs are finally at peace. After the Three Valentine Wars waged between the two sides of humanity they have finally united under one banner, The United Human Federation of Sovereign States (UHFS). Thanks to the work of Lacus Clyne, Cagalli Atha, and many other key leaders of the nations of Earth and the PLANTs.

It is also thanks to the brave souls of Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala, who sacrificed their lives for this cause on the battlefield of the 3rd Valentine War, and the lives of many other soldiers that made the dream of the UHFS possible.

 **CE - 104**

In light Lacus Clyne's departure from the world of politics in the UHFS. Shinn Asuka is appointed as the Lead Representative of ZAFT in the UHFS Cabinet of World Leaders. As this occurs advances interstellar travel continue as humanity now begins to spread its wings beyond the orbit of Earth to start building colonies from Venus to Mars. Additionally many research stations throughout the solar system, studying everything the astronomic community of planets has to offer, from the Sun to even as far out as the Pluto and the Oort Cloud. Humanity enjoys its golden age of expansion and peace.

 **CE - 128**

Scientists in the outer solar system research stations encounter a strange form of metal with unknown origins. This metal assimilates anything it touches and has become known to the UHFS Technological Institute as "Grey Matter" or its longer name "Extraterrestrial Living Metal Shape Shifter (ELS)" Later that year, the UHFS guard stations near Uranus lose contact with the Pluto/Charon Research Team. It is then revealed that they were attacked by an unknown foreign force that used "Grey Matter" as its primary weapon.

 **CE - 130**

An object is recognized on the outer solar system scanner and is headed towards Earth. The outer guard stations are quick to take action to stop the object until it is realized that the object is a "Grey Matter" Hive. The unit does its best to fend off the invasion force, but to no avail. Their mobile suits and their battleships are assimilated into the hive's endless numbers of Grey Matter.

 **CE - 131**

The UHFS is now completely aware of the potential threat of its Grey Matter invaders. The UHFS military is called to arms and the Grey Matter is held off at Saturn by groups of Battleships and Mobile Suits. The hive returns to the outer solar system and feeds off the matter of nearby planetoids in the Oort Cloud to replenish its Grey Matter source.

 **CE - 170**

The struggle of the troops to deal with the Grey Matter has put the military on a doomsday clock schedule to develop the means to defeat the enemy once and for all. At this point the Grey Matter hive could've tripled or quadrupled in size and strength, so the UHFS Military frantically tries to develop the ultimate mobile suit. This leads to the development of the Gundam Parallel Alpha and its sister Gundam Parallel Omega. The designs shared a lot in common with the Destiny Gundam, but had entirely different qualities. A general purpose mobile suit that is powered by harnessing the energy of a controlled wormhole that has its exit and entrance points in the two suits. This occurrence allows for both machines to have a near limitless power supply while the other is active. Should either Gundam perish or the pilots choose to activate the protocols of its kamikaze type mission, the Parallel Gundam would create a singularity, a black hole, which would completely destroy the Grey Matter.

Out of hundreds of thousands of pilots that applied for the Parallel program only two were selected.

And that is where the story of Apollo Zala and Reina Kimura begins.

 _Edit ( 12/18/15 ): What's going on everyone, I'm just tagging this one here because I feel like it's important to put down at the start. I know as an author, I should be the one proofreading my own text. I do proofread it, however, as I am not the greatest writer out there, often times my work comes out of the factory full of flaws. So if you are willing, please help me out and point to me the more exceptional errors that make sections of the story seem unclear. I'll update those chapters promptly._


	2. Apollo Zala 1 (SEED)

Apollo rested very nicely on the prison transport. He was blindfolded and cuffed but it didn't stop him from enjoying a good nap on the ship. After eluding the hand of the law several times, his past finally caught up with him, he wasn't even caught in the most glamorous way either. Apollo had always thought that if he was going to prison it would be in a guns blazing manner of taking down and disarming as many of the UHFS Astrays as he could in his Valentine War era ZGMF - GOUF; his past ventures had helped him become remarkably good at doing that. Alas his capture was done in a very underwhelming matter, as a SWAT team raided his home in the hills Onogoro Island.

Apollo expected the transport time to be only a half hour or so to the nearest maximum security prison on Earth, but he had been asleep and awake for a lot longer than that. He heard the familiar metallic grunge of a hangar bay opening. One of the guards watching him pulled off his mask, and suddenly Apollo realized where he was. He saw the ZAFT Emblem blazoned on every wall of the colony's port. They had taken him up to the PLANTs, most likely they were docked on Aprilius to consult his new relatives, the Zala family, about his misbehavior.

"WELCOME TO ARMORY ONE KIDDO," the guard grumbled in a loud voice.

"Wait Armory One?! Isn't this a military personnel only colony?"

"Yes indeed it is, we were on special orders to deliver you here rather than to the Maximum Security Prison. You've got some relations with some really powerful people kiddo, anyone with your record would be put on the chopping block or set for life."

"Mind telling me why?"

"You know very damn well why you little runt. Mobile Suit grand theft, obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting known criminals, assault on military and law enforcement personnel, and robbery at gunpoint."

"Half of that stuff isn't even true. I only borrowed those mobile suits, you guys were in my while I was trying to dish out justice, I didn't swear that one guy I bought movies off of was funding a crime ring, and..."

"That's enough," a calm voice added to the conversation. The voice originated from a woman in a Red Uniform. She apparently was standing next to Apollo and the guard unnoticed, "My name is Shinonome Sayaka, Apollo-kun, you are under my care for today. Guard, here are your next assignments, get ready for take off."

"Roger that Shinonome-san," the guard replied, "watch out for this one he's troublesome, probably will escape when given the chance."

"I'll be extra careful then," she smiled. "Apollo."

"Yes, ma'am," Apollo responded diligently. He straightened up to an attentive position.

"I see you'll make a fine soldier and pilot," Shinonome said as she observed his stance. "I believe you are good man who just got involved with the wrong people."

"Those people are my friends," Apollo replied angrily. Reminded of his good friends at home who taught him how to fly a mobile at a young age, "they ..."

"Are also wanted criminals who recognized your natural gift and abused it," she added, "come this way, you'll be meeting the captain who'll assign you to a mobile suit team."

"Wait, I'm already being given a red uniform?"

"Yes, Apollo-kun, thanks to your name's history and frankly your own skill it has been decided that you will be assigned to an MS Team. Now come we're wasting time out here." The two then proceeded to head to the Captain's Office which overlooked the rest of Armory One in a high watchtower. Aside the entrance to the office were stationed two guards, whom promptly stood at attention when recognized by Shinonome. The guards opened to the door to the lobby and Shinonome and Apollo waited for the Captain to come out of his personal quarters.

"Is Shinonome here," said a muffled voice from beyond the door. "Oh she is, bring her in then." The door to the Captains Quarters opened and Shinonome escorted Apollo in, she stood outside the doors as they closed leaving Apollo by himself with the Captain. The Captain was an older man probably in his 40s, he wore a white uniform and Captain's hat which denoted his rank in the ZAFT military. He sat comfortably in his desk as he looked at Apollo's file on the holo-monitor. He gestured his hand at the seat in front of his desk, "Please sit."

Apollo sat down in the chair and slouched a bit. He forgot that he had been handcuffed and began squirming around a bit as he tried to re-position himself on the chair. "Zachariah can you please remove these cuffs this is embarrassing." Zachariah abruptly walked up to Apollo and undid the locks on his cuffs.

"Thank you," Apollo exclaimed. He stretched out his arms to relieve some of the stress from being cuffed for that long. "Zachariah is it? The name's Apollo," Apollo stretched out his hand and expected a handshake, but Zachariah politely declined with a stern look. However the Captain gladly accepted the offer and stood up to shake his hand.

"My name is Captain Jo-ash Connor, I am in charge of this section of Armory One as well as the ship you will be assigned on, the Eternal."

"I thought the Eternal is an ancient ship, it will be demolished by pretty much any modern mobile suit in an instant."

"Yes that is true, but we have completely refurbished the Eternal with all the latest armor and weapon technology."

"I see," Apollo replied. He turned toward Zachariah and started shooing him off, "I think its time for us to have our important talk now, I heard I'll get to be a mobile suit pilot."

"Well, Apollo, we actually need Zachariah here," the Captain said with authority. He paused to clear his throat and continued speaking, "Zachariah Zala is your stepbrother. Not only is he your stepbrother but he is also your commanding officer as a FAITH member and experienced ZAFT mobile suit pilot." Upon hearing this information, Apollo's jaw dropped to the floor.\

"So, I have to follow his every order," Apollo asked.

"Yes you do, brother," Zachariah replied casually with a grin, "everything I say you must do, if I tell you to drop and give me a 100 push-ups you will give me 200."

"And why should I give you 200," Apollo replied starkly, glaring at Zachariah.

"Because I will have you shipped off to prison with no chance of parole the moment you even step your foot off the line, Apollo."

"That is actually true if you do happen to be the criminal everyone thinks you are," the Captain continued, "you're being given this opportunity because, Apollo," he paused to think, "Because, Apollo, you are clearly not aware of your natural talent, and you can aspire to be someone greater. Over the course of your lifetime you've managed to outmaneuver even our most experienced pilots in a century old mobile suit only outfitted with some new armor and a barely passable propulsion system. Shinonome happened to be one of the victims of your latest mobile suit stunt and she's been training and going on operations for the last 6 years. She's regarded as one of the best MS pilots in this company."

Apollo had to let all that information soak in. He realized he is a better pilot than what the military has to offer. "Well just to avoid going to prison, I'm in."

"Well good," the Captain replied heartily, "Welcome to the Parallel Program, Apollo Zala."


	3. Apollo Zala 2 (SEED)

Apollo sat in his new room onboard the Eternal, contemplating the more recent events. Specifically his new task of testing the Parallel Program.

 _"The Parallel Program is designed for us to test the best up and coming mobile suit pilots to launch the new Prototype models, Gundam Parallel Alpha and Gundam Parallel Omega. Among the thousands of applicants there can only be two selections to be the pilot. First of which came from the UHFS Military Academy's prodigy, Reina Kimura. However we were not able to find another suitable candidate out of the selection pool because many of the candidates when faced with the decision to sacrifice their lives in one of two inescapable options chose to forfeit their application, and those who would simply did not have the piloting skill to match the needs of the program."_

 _The Captain looked at Apollo dead in the eyes and continued, "We needed someone that had both the sufficient piloting skill and someone who is not afraid of no-win situations in order to take on the task of piloting the Gundam Parallel Omega or Alpha. That is where you come in, Apollo."_

 _Zachariah added on, "Equipped to the Parallel Gundam Alpha and Omega is a shared wormhole that powers the two suits. In the case that your suit goes critical you have one job."_

 _"What is that," Apollo asked._

 _"You are to fly it into the heart of the Grey Matter swarm and destroy it via the singularity that powers the suit."_

 _"That's insane!"_

 _"Apollo," he said with a commanding voice, "you are basically everything we need out of the pilot for the Parallel Gundam, and practically the only option. You are practically an ace even without the training from the UHFS academy. You also have nothing to lose. You can either choose to die in the battlefield or choose to live out the rest of your life behind bars or even tried for treason. Given the situation you are already currently in might as well take the former and at least die a hero than the enemy of the state." There was a long dead air that filled the room._

 _"With that said, our training in the Parallel will begin next Monday," the Captain concluded, closing the documents about the Parallel Program. "Now rest up on the Eternal, get to know the crew because they'll be your new friends while we are on active duty."_

Apollo turned over in his bed slightly frustrated, "what the hell is this crap?" he said to himself. He ran his hands through his brown and messy hair. He felt uneasy about the fact that he was about to become the UHFS's guinea pig in their Parallel Gundam test project. He looked at the time and decided to take a shower, he recalled that he hadn't taken one since his home was raided back at Onogoro Island. He undressed and stepped into the shower. Afterwards, he came out dressed in his new ZAFT Mobile Suit Red Uniform and went around exploring the Eternal. There weren't many crew members on at the time aside from Zachariah, Shinonome, and the Captain so he sat in the dining hall by himself.

Another crew member he didn't recognize walked into the room, she wore a Red Uniform like all ZAFT MS pilots, but she held an entirely different presence in the room compared to Zachariah and the Captain; she was more like a younger Shinonome. She had medium length, dark brown hair that went past her shoulders that tinted with dark blonde highlights. She also had more of an Asian, Japanese face, and she wasn't lightweight like Shinonome but a little bit heavier by the looks of it.

"Did you spend enough time staring at me," she exclaimed. Apollo, caught off guard, fell of his chair. "I don't know who you are, but please don't just stare at people for 5 minutes straight without talking to them or anything. It's disturbing."

"Five minutes straight," Apollo thought to himself, "God I'm an idiot. Yet that's pretty impressive." Unknowingly he was actually taking to himself.

"Yeah you are," she replied abrasively.

"How did you know what I was thinking," Apollo exclaimed, "are you some kind of mind reader, or maybe you have telekinetic powers or something."

"No you dimwit, you literally said that all aloud. I can't believe out of all the people that could've been my partner for the Parallel Project, it just had to be you."

"Wait you are in the Parallel Project, that means you are," Apollo had to think back trying to remember her name, "Martha? May? Juna, that's it."

"The name's Reina, Kimura Reina," she said angrily, "now let's say it together."

"Kee-mu-ra ... Ray - ee - na," they both said together.

"You got it, you numbskull," she exclaimed.

"Ah Reina," Apollo replied in a know-it-all tone, "I was just joking with you. Of course I knew your name." She definitely did not meet the standard set by Shinonome. By far the most aggressive girl he had ever met.

"Sure you did," Reina sighed in disbelief. "How did a peanut brain like you get through the application process."

"Well if you could stop calling me an idiot in fifty different ways that would be appreciated," he replied, "also I bypassed the admissions process."

"WHAT?!" she exclaimed, "there were way better candidates than you."

"Well first off, Miss, they weren't better than me since I managed to disarm even the most experienced pilots in an 80 year old GOUF," he paused to take a sip out of his iced coffee and got up, "Second, apparently the government thinks I'm also an expendable but powerful asset to them as I have nowhere else to go after this other than prison and possibly to the Execution Bloc, because I could be charged with treason should I choose to leave. So piloting this volatile test project for the government is my only choice." He looked into her eyes as he said those final words and slouched back into his chair, "OH WOW that was refreshing to get off my chest." The look in her eyes was a mixture of astonishment and disappointment.

"My friends at the academy, were more than qualified to take this position instead of some low life Death Row criminal..."

"Hey you stop there, the Captain and Zachariah told me that they weren't qualified for the reason that they wouldn't be the bigger man. Or didn't have a reason to... You do know what happens if one of us is about to be shot down right?"

"Yes," Reina replied, "we are to fly the Parallel Gundam into Grey Matter and eradicate it via black hole."

"Unfortunately your friends, when faced with that decision couldn't step up to the role of being the sacrifice hero. That's all there is." Distraught, Reina sat there realizing the gravity of the situation. Apollo put his hand on her shoulder as he got up. "Don't worry, Reina, 'cuz with me on our side, we won't fail. I'll make sure we won't." He stopped for a second to think about what he was gonna do next. He drank the last of his coffee and threw it into the garbage bin. "I'm gonna head on over to the flight simulator to clock in some hours on the new suit before we get in it for real on Monday."

He left the room in silence and strode on over to the elevator leading to the training deck. Reina followed him and they entered some hours into the Parallel Gundam Sim.

"Now its time to get to work, " he stated. Upon arriving to their destination Apollo hopped into a simulator module and strapped in and proceeded to run simulator missions for the rest of the day.

"Countdown timing transferred to Apollo Zala, waiting for your commands," the flight deck commander said over the speaker. The HUD glowed to life revealing a simulation of the space around Armory One. The controls unlocked and were prepped for him to use. The clearance checks went from red to green.

"Apollo Zala, Gundam Parallel Omega, Launching." The simulator produced the sounds of the Mobile Suit coming to life and launching off the catapult. The Omega's thrusters shined in a bright blue color as the particles dispersed into the space around it.

"Kimura Reina, Gundam Parallel Alpha, Taking off, " A brilliant show of red and white shined from her mobile suit as it launched from the catapult of the Eternal.

"Beginning operation."


	4. Quantum Tunnel (?)

"This is the captain of the Eternal speaking, we are encountering a gravitational anomaly, we cannot escape from it, I repeat we cannot escape it, everyone brace for impact." Those words ran down the spines of everyone on board. On her maiden journey, the crew of the Eternal would perish due to an unforeseen astronomical event.

Days earlier...

"Alright everyone lets do our best today," the Captain stated over the PA system. Everyone was on the move preparing for the first voyage of the recommissioned Eternal as it would go from Armory One to the forward UHFS HQ in Jupiter's Orbit. The journey was going to be a long one as the trip to the resupply point at Mars was at least going to be 2 months of non-stop travel. From there it would be another month until they'd reach their destination at Jupiter.

"Wow everyone is busy," Apollo mumbled. He and the rest of the Mobile Suit Pilots (Shinonome, Zachariah, Reina) watched the engineers going about their work to keep the Parallel Gundams in check as well as repairing any part of the Eternal that could've been damaged by debris during their trial sorties.

"Well that's their job," Shinonome replied, "Our job is to wait until its time for take off." She stretched her arms out wide and yawned, "And its my job to take a nap and get ready for my big presentation."

"What big presentation, Shinonome-san," Apollo seemed puzzled. Mostly because he didn't really know about Shinonome's responsibilities outside of keeping him and Reina in line.

"Sayaka may be our comrade and equal as part of the elite team dedicated to preparing you and Reina for piloting the Parallel, but she also carries the responsibility of being the commanding officer over the rest of the mobile forces aboard the Eternal," Zachariah replied confidently, "I'm also in charge of those guys too, but Sayaka does the job well by herself anyways. They all respect her and know her reputation as an elite pilot." Zachariah checked his watch and looked up at the sky and pointed at a group of Gundam Red Astrays headed their way. "And look at the time our group is here and ready to go," he noted as the Astrays headed into the hangar bay of the Eternal. "Well I gotta go take care of this group. Sayaka head inside and prep yourself for your group, you look exhausted."

"Alright, Reina, Apollo, let's go," Shinonome replied as she ushered the two back inside the Eternal.

"Shinonome-san," Reina asked curiously, "Does Zala-san always call your by your first name." She blushed a bit knowing that it could've been a personal question.

"It's a custom here in the ZAFT military to call each other by our first names if we are in the same company or ship," Shinonome answered. "It started because everyone in the ZAFT military were all civilians that enlisted, and everyone in that time regarded each other as brothers in arms fighting for the protection of their homeland in the PLANTS. No matter the rank nor responsibility all military personnel shared this in common. So it became custom to call everyone by their first names."

"That clarifies a lot of things," Reina replied, almost revealing the real reason why she asked through her facial expressions. But Shinonome caught onto her motives fairly easily.

"I know its Japanese tradition for lovers to call each other by their personal names, but that's not the case." Shinonome said calmly but sort of annoyed that Reina went to that extreme. "You two can call me Sayaka if you want. Anyways lets get aboard the Eternal. I need to rest."

"Yes, Shinonome-san," Reina and Apollo responded in unison. The three of them walked up to the living quarters aboard the Eternal. Passing by several groups of crew members madly going about the ship getting ready for their take off procedures. As Apollo walked over to his room and opened the door he noticed that there were bags opened and their contents spread across the room. He stepped out and saw Zachariah talking with a group of MS pilots.

"What the hell is this, why is my room a mess?! Zach!?" Apollo yelled. Zachariah told the group of rookies to hold on as he turned his attention to a disturbed Apollo. He walked across the white halls of the Eternal towards him and handed him a holo tablet with an explanation. Apollo examined it and handed it back to him. "Why the hell am I getting a roommate?"

"Because everyone has to share rooms with the exception of the Captain, especially with all the new faces on board. Space will free up aboard the Eternal when we drop them all off at the forward HQ," Zachariah replied firmly, "Also I think you'll enjoy your roommate, he should be a fairly familiar face." Apollo looked over Zachariah's shoulder and saw a younger man running down the hall. Apollo immediately recognized his face.

"SHIROU!" Apollo exclaimed.

"APOLLO!" Shirou replied just as loudly.

"How did you know we knew each other," Apollo asked Zachariah.

"Well we know everything about you Apollo," Zachariah joked in a semi-serious manner, "we thoroughly studied you before even considering placing you into the Parallel Program. Also it just happened that Shirou Yamato here shares everything in common with your profile as both of you are from the ORB Union capitol, Onogoro Island. So we thought you to at least would have that much in common. Didn't even know you were two were friends."

"Friends, more like best friends Shirou and I go way back," Apollo laughed.

"Dude Apollo, I thought you were busted the last I heard of you, didn't realize you were actually training with the ZAFT elite," Shirou said in a very inquisitive way.

"Yeah man, let's first clean up your stuff and I can tell you all about it." The two headed back to their room and began catching up. Apollo explained everything from his capture all the way to his training in the Parallel Gundam Program.

"All hands on deck, prepare for departure." All the lights were green as the hangar bay of Armory One opened. The engineering staff and crew aboard the Eternal headed inside and took their first break all day, for some, in the last week. It was all in the hands of the crew on the bridge to take care of the take off procedures. The engines of the Eternal ignited and burned a bright blue as the craft made its way off the dock into space.

"Well we've just taken our first steps and most important steps without falling, Captain," first mate Lyle Galdys stated proudly. The bridge applauded as the Eternal began its flight toward the Mars Resupply Station.

In the briefing room, now jam packed with the rookie pilots, Shinonome began her presentation on their duties throughout the course of their trip as they will perform routine patrol runs and scrimmages against each other from time to time to keep up their performance. This is due to the Grey Matter having copied the designs of any mobile suit its assimilated into its ranks, so their forces are most likely littered with units that will through and through share their exact same specs. They'd also practice against Reina and Apollo to allow them to get used to the Parallel Gundam while battling against a non-computer opponent.

Shirou decided to take it upon himself to be able to defeat either Reina or Apollo one on one by the end of the trip. As the highest ranked rookie pilot and the group appointed leader he was allowed to modify his Gundam Red Frame Astray to his liking, naming it the Gundam White(Shirou) Frame Astray after his own name.

Later that day Apollo and Shirou flew off the Eternal to practice, since they were given special permission by the crew after that challenge in front of all the MS Pilots aboard. To handicap Apollo, Zachariah decided to not let Reina fly out to accompany him in the Gundam Parallel Alpha. This left Apollo with a half powered Omega Gundam which would put him on par with Shirou's Mobile Suit.

"Ready to get your butt handed to you," Shirou called out over the intercom. Apollo's face appeared on Shirou's HUD, as he sent a video message to him.

"I think you heavily underestimate your opponent." Apollo leaned forward in the chair and pushed his flight sticks forward. He pressed a button on the right stick and the Omega grabbed one of the beam sabers attached to its hip and activated it. The Mobile Suit lunged forward. Its propulsors burst in a blue and white light pattern, it moved so quickly that it appeared to have after images as it flew in a zig-zag pattern towards the White Frame.

"He's quick," Shirou said under his breath," BUT NOT QUICK ENOUGH!" As the Omega was about to swing its beam saber at the White Frame, Shirou opened his own beam saber and blocked the attack. Sparks of light flew as the two sabers clashed.

The two mobile suits jumped back and reset a distance away from each other. Apollo and Shirou both took a quick breather, "You're still pretty good, Shirou," Apollo remarked, "though you're still 40 years too early to challenge my throne as the best pilot ."

"Yeah, I'm not 40 years too early to challenge you, I'm more like 2 minutes too early," Shirou retorted. He pulled out his practice rifle and fired a couple rounds at the Omega.

Apollo dodged the shots and returned fire with his own practice rifle. "Why you little, brat. You almost scratched it." The two mobile suits circled each other trying to land shots on one another. It was clear to everyone watching that these two had been rivals for years. They knew each others' movements and battle tactics. Shots were flying everywhere, and beams of green and pink light soared across the emptiness of space. Then Apollo managed to land a shot on Shirou's rifle, disabling it. The two backed off again and opened up their comms,"Yo, Shirou, you're still a lousy shot," Apollo joked.

"Hey its harder to fly in space, man," Shirou replied, "we've only ever battled each other on Earth." Shirou and Apollo both remembered their mock battles when they were young. Shirou had always had the upper hand because he had inherited the Strike Freedom from his family. The two would go against another almost weekly at one point, and it became a weekly tradition on Onogoro Island for crowds watch the two go at it. Apollo managed to always win even in his GOUF because of simply being the better pilot. But now his belief that he could win in this match was shaky, Shirou had gotten a lot better since going through the UHFS Military Academy, and even in the technologically superior machine, Apollo couldn't gain too much of an upper hand against his old friend.

Their shared memory faded away and all of a sudden everything became clear to them. "I'll beat you this time Apollo!" Shirou's pupils dilated and his eyes went from a reflective tan to a dull brown. In his mind was an image of a crystal shattering into a million glowing pieces and all of a sudden everything was clear to him. He could feel the space around him. All of the Omega's movements appeared to be a lot slower than before, and his sole focus was on the battle at hand. Shirou pushed the flight sticks forward and armed both of his beam sabers.

"NOW IT LOOKS LIKE A REAL FIGHT!" Apollo stepped back and armed his beam saber again. This time he activated both ends of his beam saber to create a Bo staff type of weapon. He twirled it around and as Shirou came onto him he blocked the attack easily. Locking Shirou's right sword down. Shirou quickly turned around and tried to disarm Omega's left hand which was carrying the practice rifle, but Apollo pivoted around to dodge the attack.

Shirou managed to get out of the beam saber lock and aimed his next strike at the cockpit of the Omega, simultaneously Apollo aimed his practice rifle at the core of the White Frame.

"Its a draw," everyone on the Eternal exclaimed. The rookies on the ship chanted, "Shirou, Shirou, Shirou!" Everyone else took sighs of relief, for a lot of them that was their first real experience watching a mobile suit duel unfold. The moment of relief was short lived after the bridge first received reports of a gravitational anomaly in their sector.

"All units return to stations," the Captain broadcast over the PA system. Shirou and Apollo flew back to the Eternal and dismounted from their Mobile Suits.

"What's the situation," Apollo asked one of the flight crew.

"The Captain wants us to remain aboard the Eternal. They've encountered some sort of disturbance and the guys up in the bridge are trying to figure out a way to navigate around it." Zachariah and Shinonome arrived, and escorted the two back to their quarters. There they anxiously awaited the result of this obstacle.

"Captain, look," one of the gunners on the bridge exclaimed. He couldn't believe what he was looking at through the targeting camera.

"Open up a visual," the Captain commanded. The main camera on the bridge projected the image of what was in front of the eternal. What appeared before them ripped the hearts out of all who beheld it. A gigantic rift in space-time was in their way, it was sucking in light energy from the sun and other stars so the outer rim of the event horizon was lit brightly. They stared into the rift as it swirled and warped everything going into it."Captain, I'm losing control," one of the pilots cried, "we're being pulled into it."

"Is there anything we can do," the Captain asked. All he received were blank stares from everyone on board. "Anyone, please."

The Captain reluctantly grabbed the microphone and brought it up to his mouth. The words seemed to escape him as to what to say. PA System across the ship just made white noise as the rest of the crew were awaiting the final decision by the Captain.

"This is the captain of the Eternal speaking. We are encountering a gravitational anomaly, and we cannot escape from it, I repeat we cannot escape it, everyone brace for impact." Those words ran down the spines of everyone on board. On her maiden journey, the crew of the Eternal would perish due to an unforeseen astronomical event.  
The Quantum Tunnel.


	5. Apollo Zala 3 (SEED)

_"Shirou!"_

 _"Shirou!"_

 _"Shirou!_ '

 _"Where are you, Shirou!"_

 _Apollo looked around frantically through the trees and bushes in the forest on Onogoro. Shirou carefully followed him undetected as they ran through the forest._

 _"Shirou!" Apollo yelled one more time with no response. It began to grow dark and the sun began to fade. Apollo began to worry more as the darkness crept forward. Apollo then heard rustling in the bush; he jumped back frightened. Shirou found his perfect chance to strike and jumped on top of him. They wrestled for a few seconds and Shirou managed to pin him down._

 _"Apollo you shouldn't make that much of a racket, the forest spirits will hear you," Shirou whispered._

 _"But, I was worried, I thought I lost you."_

"BRACE YOURSELVES." One of the crew members cried. Suddenly a huge jolt rattled the ship as they continued further into the pull of the rift. Everyone fell over and some injured themselves as objects went flying everywhere. "We're heading into the event horizon, everyone to your stations, prepare for the worst."  
The eternal began its decent into the rift. Huge bolts of light sparked everywhere outside the ship as it crossed into the nether. Everything on board went dark as the power systems failed when crossing the rift. All the crew soon had their helmets and suits on as to prepare for the worst possible scenario.

 _"What's wrong, Apollo?" His mother asked as she walked into the room with a bag of groceries. She found him sitting by his father but something was wrong._

 _"Father isn't waking up." She dropped her bags and broke down completely upon seeing his blank stare._

"Someone get a medic," Apollo yelled. He was taking care of a crew member named Daniel, who had taken a serious hit from heavy equipment falling from the galley. The equipment tore a hole through his suit and he was bleeding profusely. Reina ran off to the medical bay, she found it was already full with the staff completely busy."Don't die on me. Stay with me. Daniel." He saw that he was barely staying conscious. His life was teetering on the edge and Apollo knew that. Apollo kept pressure on the wound and called for anyone with medical experience to help. He watched his chest to see if he was still breathing. "Come on Daniel, it'll be alright."

"Yeah it'll be alright," he muttered faintly, trying to say the words, "my family will be alright. Apollo, if we make it through this..."

"No don't give me that crap, you're gonna live. Please someone help." Another crew member handed him a vial of pain killers and a syringe. "Here's some morphine. Stay with me." Apollo turned his head toward him. But he saw the look in his eyes. They were filled with tears. "No don't do this to me."

"Tell them, I love them..." he cried with his last breath as his lungs filled with blood. He began coughing and then all went still.

" _Apollo is it," a man dressed in a black overcoat grumbled._

 _"Apollo Raynorth. You're the kid that flies the GOUF_

 _right?""Yes, sir."_

 _"Why didn't you say that before, you're in kid. Welcome to the Black Flag. You seem like a good boy, why do you need our help anyways."_

 _"Because, I don't want mom to suffer any more, and I'll do what I can."_

 _"Yet there are so many other things you could do yet you are here with us. You know what we do."Apollo stood there in silence. He didn't know what else to do, he had gone this far. As his mother grieved, everything at home fell apart. They lost their home and everything they owned slowly but surely was going to disappear. He knew his mother was in no state to work so he took it upon himself to support the family. No one would accept him as an employee because he was still and he didn't want to end up in the foster care system._

 _"Because I have one mission, and I'm willing to put everything even my life on the line." Apollo then explained everything to Black Flag's boss, and he was soon accepted into their ranks._

 _"These guys will be your buddies from here on out, now play nice," The Boss said kindly. In the room where two other boys who were in similar situations, their names were Fareed and Gara. Over the course of the next 7 years they'd fly many daring missions together and clash with the UHFS Military and Police forces in their mobile suits. Apollo set himself apart from the rest of his group. While Fareed and Gara always went for kill shots when taking down their enemies, Apollo always opted to disarm them._

 _"Why do you disarm them," Fareed asked. Having noticed after the end of one mission, "they're out to kill you. The UHFS has no intention of leaving us alive so why not fight back."_

 _"Because I don't want anyone to suffer," he paused, "no one should end up like us. Especially those in the UHFS Mobile Suits we go up against." He took another bite of bread and attached his paycheck to a messenger bird. The bird flew over to his mother's house as always where it'd deliver his earnings after every operation. "Yeah I don't want anyone to suffer the same pain. Death isn't something to be taken lightly."_

"Damn it," Apollo cried as he slammed his fist into the ground. He opened up his helmet and closed his eyes ritually. "What the hell is happening." He ran over to the elevator and took it up to the bridge. Upon arrival, the rest of the crew on the bridge paused and looked at him and continued frantically issuing orders and trying to maintain control of the ship. "Where are we headed?"

"We don't know," one of the navigators replied, "we currently don't even exist."

"But we're all here so we do exist," Apollo retorted, "Captain, do we have a solution."

"Do you think I know what in the blazes is going on," the Captain replied, "we're stuck in a rift in space-time. The entrance just closed on us, so even if we somehow generated enough power to escape the gravitational pull we'd stuck."  
"Captain, Life Support is down to 30%," one of the crew members called out.

"Divert engine energy to the life support systems, we aren't moving anywhere but where the pull of gravity takes us so there isn't any point in keeping them on."

"Roger that sir, diverting energy to life support systems." The engines powered down and the lights on the ship came back to life."That should buy us another 2 hours depending on how the hull holds up. Debris is tearing it up," the captain added. An engineer from the research deck came aboard the bridge panting and holding a set of papers in her hand. She looked flustered but was absolutely determined."Nina, what do you have for us," the Captain asked.

"Captain, I think there is a way for us to escape," she stated.

 _"With that kind of thinking, you'll get yourself killed," Gara continued. He was right, if they were out to kill him, and he would do something as dangerous as toying with them in that way, he would eventually get killed._

 _"I'll do what I can to make sure they don't suffer even if it means risking my own life," Apollo walked off and fell into his bunk._

"Catapult online, transferring launch timing to you, Apollo," The flight director said over the intercom, "you do what you have to do." Then the comms closed and re-opened with Reina on screen in the Alpha.

"You're insane, but at least honorable, good luck out there. Thank you for everything."

"Thanks, Reina," he replied, "Gundam Parallel Omega, Apollo Zala, Launching." The Omega Gundam riveted off the catapult, it was instantly pounded by the flying unknown debris. He lost communications with the Eternal almost immediately as expected. He pulled out the prototype beam rifles the Omega was equipped with, and watched the clock as it countdown. The pressure was on as he waited out in the darkness. The only lights were on in his cockpit. There was nothing out there. It was the type of darkness that was so unsettling, not because you were out in it with the scary monsters from horror stories. No, it wasn't that, it was because you were out there by yourself, you were your own monster. Images of what his past flew by him as he watched the clock run down. Apollo knew that his time to go would be soon but didn't realize how quickly it would come. The charge notifier had hit 200%, the wormhole power core from the Alpha pulled through.

"Eternal, if you can hear me, I'm charging up the the positron beam." Another, HUD display went up showing him the charge rate of the beam rifle "Come on." His HUD started lighting up with warning with armor compromised messages.

 _"You know you aren't coming back from this right. The blast will completely drain your mobile suit's power."_

 _"I understand."_

The charger beeped. "FIRING!" A large stream of red and white light filled the void and all of a sudden the rift opened and light poured in. He saw the Eternal fly through the exit. He tried to follow them, but his suit was drained. Apollo knew that much, he couldn't bear to see the suffering on their faces any more. If it meant putting his own life before everyone else's, that meant everything in the world to him to know they were smiling. He closed his eyes and the world went completely black. His suit powered down and he drifted into the void.


	6. Reina Kimura 1 (UC)

Reina sat in her cockpit, "Apollo..." she whimpered, tears floated in the air as the Eternal made its way into open space. She got out of the cockpit and took off her helmet. The momentum sent the teary pebbles flew everywhere. The flight crew escorted her down, and she made her way to her quarters. She sat there in her room waiting for Apollo to come bursting in, but the moment never came. She regretted how she treated him the first time they met, but now couldn't find a way to say she was sorry. Shinonome opened the door and walked into the room. She sat on the bed facing Reina and looked at her.

"It's hard isn't it," she told her.

"Couldn't we have..."

"Don't think about that, you know that blast would've endangered the integrity of the Eternal's armor if it was fired too close to it."

"But we could've saved him."

"It's not just about that, there are other people on this ship that we have a duty to care for. I'm sure given the choice, Apollo would've done it again. He's that type of person." She walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her. Reina could feel the warmth as well as the sadness outpouring from that single action, "I think for a lot of us here this is our first experience feeling loss. This is just practice for what waits ahead."

"If this is practice, then I don't want to know the real deal," Reina sobbed into Shinonome's shoulder, "I wanted to be the hero, that's why I trained and studied so hard in the academy, yet when the time came, I couldn't bring myself to even think about putting myself out there."

"I know, that's a hard decision to make," Shinonome replied, releasing Reina from her embrace. She sat next to her and lay down on the bed. "There aren't many people like Apollo, Reina. You know his story don't you."

"I've only asked about it once or twice, didn't really get it in full detail from him."

"Well to tell it to you shortly, when he was a young boy, he was a star mobile suit pilot on Onogoro, always fighting Shirou to hone his skills. Then his father died of unknown causes and his life spiraled out of control. When he was 13, he joined a group of bandits known as the Black Flag to try and support his family with whatever earnings he could get from the heists. Black Flag was known for being an insurrectionist group in the UHFS. They frequently targeted UHFS bases for their raids. We treated them as enemies of the state, and they were hunted relentlessly, my job at the time was to kill anyone from that group on sight."

"So, I'm guessing at one point you met him on the battefield before."

"I remember it clearly, that's why I was the one who recommended him for the Parallel Program, no one else even knew who he was at the time, until his mother remarried and became Zachariah's stepmother," she replied, "the first time I met him on the battlefield he was piloting a ZGMF- GOUF-X Ignited, a model dating back from the 3rd Bloody Valentine war. This was the first time I and anyone else in my squadron had seen a Mobile Suit like that. It was practically history book material. I didn't know he was that kid..."

 _"Stand down," Shinonome declared over the intercom. She had her rifle aimed at the GOUF Ignited, "you are under arrest, come quietly and we won't shoot."_

 _"Fareed, Gara get out of here we got the loot I'll take care of them," the boy told his teammates. The two ZAKU Warriors flew off with the vault in hand. The GOUF Ignited drew its Anti-Ship Sword and the beam came to life._

 _"Get them," Shinonome commanded. Several Astrays flew off but were immediately brought down by the GOUF Ignited. She noticed that he only cut off their arms and legs."Zachariah, Shayla, status report."_

 _"We're alright," they replied, "but take down that bogey."_

 _"On it," Shinonome replied. She flew up in her Astray Blue Frame and whipped out a gigantic scimitar-like blade. She then dove down swinging the sword and tried to cut the GOUF in half. Her MS landed on the ground crushing the pavement below her. She immediately noticed she missed, "Where are you?" Alarms in her cabin went off and she turned around and saw the GOUF swinging its sword down onto her. She blocked it with her own sword and the force of the blow sent a shockwave that rattled the buildings nearby. The GOUF activated its thrusters and started pushing the Blue Frame back._

 _Shinonome activated her own thrusters in response pushing the GOUF back; she knew her MS had a lot more power than the old GOUF model. Sparks of light flew between the two mobile suits as their swords clashed. Then the GOUF shut off its engines and Shinonome tripped and fell forward, and the GOUF used the momentum to roll over the Astray. The GOUF boost jumped over her and swung its sword right through the main camera right down to the right shoulder joint, cutting the head in half and removing its right arm. " I can't see, damn it," Shinonome yelled. Her mobile suit soon fell to the ground as the GOUF proceeded to cut off its legs. She activated the secondary camera only to see the edge of the Anti-Ship Sword right in her face._

 _" I win," she heard the boy say over the speaker._

 _"What's your name," she asked._

 _"Apollo," he replied, "I hope we meet again." The GOUF then flew off into the horizon._

Reina was surprised, "so this is a great story, but what does that have to do with Apollo's motivation for sacrificing himself."

"The point is that at that moment he knew the odds were stacked against him, its no easy feat to try and take down several of us, and that he put himself in harms way in order to insure that his friends wouldn't be harmed," she explained, "I guess the tragedy he suffered early in his life changed him, he places the value of life very highly, and I think that's something we lose as we go through the academy. We're just told to follow orders for the greater good, but never to weigh the cost of our own actions. He will always choose even against his own better judgment and against what anyone else tells him, to take action in a way that benefits everyone. " Shinonome went out for a brief moment and came back with a package. It appeared to be labeled with Apollo's name, but it was labelled "Apollo Raynorth."

"What is it," Reina asked. She opened the box and saw a mechanical bird inside of it. She touched the power button and the bird came to life. It chirped, "Birdy, Birdy, Birdy."

"While we were discussing the plan on the bridge, Apollo told me in private to hand this to you. He knew that he had nothing else to his name other than this, and as his partner he entrusted you with it." Reina stroked the surface of birds head. Then the bird began flying around the room, it flew up on top of the lamp on her nightstand and perched itself on it. She watched it for a few seconds as it powered down.

Reina stood up and headed to the door, "I'm going to train for a bit, I need to set up the simulator..." Suddenly, Reina felt the strength leave her legs and collapsed. She desperately tried crawling closer to the door.

"I think its best if you rest, Reina, you've had a long day." Shinonome helped her back into the bed.

"But I didn't even do anything. All I did was sat in the cockpit and watched him fly out," she cried, "I need to become stronger just like him. I need to become stronger to do the impossible, to make sure we won't fail." Recalling Apollo's words when they first met. She wiped the tears from her eyes, "even if it means losing a few hours of sleep. I can even fine tune the Parallel's Operating System if I have to, I just need to go." She felt Shinonome's hand reaching out to her and helping her stand up.

"There's a difference between doing what is good and doing what is stupid," Reina replied, "you're choosing the latter right now, please rest." Shinonome helped her back into the bed and watched over her as she fell asleep. "Reina Kimura, now I see why you're considered a prodigy, what a work ethic. The difference between Apollo and you isn't the result of hard work but resolve. I hope you'll find that soon." Shinonome walked out of the room and headed up to the bridge. There she was greeted by the captain and found a seat in one of the observation desks.

"Captain, so what is the situation," she asked. She crossed her fingers hoping for the best.

He turned his chair towards Shinonome. "We are now at Mars, The exit of the rift conveniently spat us out back into our solar system," the captain informed, "Nina, you can explain the rest to her. I'm not fit to give the most technical explanations about our current status."

"Yes, sir. Shino-san, we have reached our destination, but we've tried connecting to the Mars Resupply Station, but there is no response."

"So does that mean that the Grey Matter even got this far, or...," Shinonome replied absolutely puzzled.

"Let me finish, there are several ways to explain our current situation. Since the rift didn't take us somewhere else in space, it is possible that the rift was theoretically a quantum tunnel. A type of anomaly that is like a wormhole but instead of bending the space in between us and its final destination it bent the time between us and our final destination. There's also the other possibility that we've traveled to our same timeline but in a Parallel Universe."

"Parallel Universe?"

"One that's exactly like our own, but was created in response to different decisions being made," Science Officer Nina replied, "a Parallel Universe."


	7. Apollo Zala 4 (SEED)

Everything was cold. The lights slowly went out in the cockpit of the Omega Gundam. He could see the warnings and alarms going off in his HUD, but they all went silent as he sat there waiting for the inevitable. The void wrapped its freezing arms around him. "This is death, he thought." It was the most frightening thought at first that this is how he would end up, but then he remembered that Death was an old friend. Throughout his life he saw the looks on his comrades' faces as they left the world. Some smiled as they passed on while others cringed as their final moments passed over them.

He could no longer move his hands nor feet. The only way he could tell he was still alive was by every motion of his chest moving up and down an the shivers that went down his spine as the void ripped and dragged his mobile suit around like a ragdoll. He laid his head back, and came to terms with himself, repenting his sins and making peace with everyone he knew.

Then a light appeared, "This is the after life I assume,' he muttered to himself, "welcome me with open arms." He took his final breath and everything around him went silent.


	8. Reina Kimura 2 (UC)

Reina awoke from her sleep, she checked the clock and saw it was 0800 hours. She got up and came out dressed in her training gear. She spent some time in the gym mostly running on the treadmill and doing other cardio activities. It was 0930 hours when she returned, covered in sweat. After cleaning up, she returned to her duties in her Red Uniform.

"Zala-san, I'm here to take your shift," Reina reported in over their comm-link. They were supposed to take turns being an active lookout in the sky due to the threat detection malfunctioning on the bridge after exiting the Quantum Tunnel. She mounted onto the Gundam Parallel Alpha and took off and matched its speed with the Eternal's speed. Zachariah's Astray Mirage Frame returned to the Eternal. Once inside the eternal, Zachariah dismounted and headed to the briefing room where he was supposed to meet with Shinonome, Captain Connor, and Officer Nina Espada, and the rest of the leaders aboard the ship.

"Science Officer Nina Espada has some important new information on our current status, and what is to be done," the Captain stated, " I hope this presentation will clarify all your questions, and maybe we will be able to generate some answers. Now, Nina."

"Thank you, Captain. Now as you may all know, 48 hours ago we witnessed and survived a very catastrophic event known to the scientific community as the Quantum Tunnel. It shares a lot of similarities with the wormholes we are familiar with, but they have some different qualities when it comes to their affects on the space time continuum. First and foremost, the Quantum tunnel is a subcategory of a Wormhole but instead of pinching two points of space together it pinches two points in time together. You may all know the illustration when it comes to the possibility of traversing a wormhole as the wormhole shrinks the distance between two points to almost nothing. In the same way, the Quantum tunnel shrinks two points in time to almost nothing, so that we can go forwards in time almost instantaneously. I won't go into the reasons why we can't go back in time since that would be digressing from our current subject."

"So, if we are in the future, how far are we in the future, because it seems like Mars and all the planets are still here," the Chief Engineer noted, "if the Grey Matter attacked wouldn't these all be Grey Matter planetoids."

"That is where I concluded we took an alternative route in the time. You see time doesn't just move forward linearly it branches out as different decisions change the possible outcome of the future. It is also likely that instead of moving forward like we first expected, the rift placed us sideways in time. We went from our timeline to some other timeline."

"Are we stuck in this timeline then," another crew member asked, "is it possible to go back."

"It is possible to go back, but we need one thing, People, other humans, just advanced enough in technology to help us get back home. So our primary directive at this point is to return home, our secondary directive is to return to Earth and see if humanity even exists in this timeline."

"Captain Zinnerman, a rogue ship is coming in our direction."

"Who does it belong to," Zinnerman replied gruffly, "the Federation?"

"No sir, there are no markings on it, wait," he zoomed in on the exterior of the Eternal, "I see one heat signature flying near it, it appears to be, Gundam?!"

"A Gundam, it must be a federation ship, but why it so far out, they should be closer to Earth."

"No idea, sir, what are you orders."

"Set battle status to red, ready the Gearas and have Marida launch in the Kshatriya."

"Yes sir," the deckhand replied, "All units to battle stations we are in a code red." Marida and her team began suiting up. They loaded into their Mobile Suits and launched off one by one.

"Gundam, is it," she glared at the cockpit of the Kshatriya, "I'll defeat them. I'll defeat them all." She jumped in and threw the visor down on her helmet. The cabin glowed as it came to life, she positioned her hands over the controls and cleared her mind. "Marida Cruz, NZ-666 Kshatriya, Launching." The catapult launched her forward and she spun around surrounding herself with the Kshatriya's shields and took off.

"Marida-san we're approaching the target," one of the pilots called, "I have a visual on the ship's emblem, Z.A.F.T., what is that, Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty, do we have any information on them."

"Just assume they are targets," Marida replied, "Gilboa-san take the Gearas and target the ship, I'll take on the Gundam."

"Roger that," Gilboa replied, "Geara's on me."

"Yes, sir! Sieg ZEON!" they yelled as they rallied with Gilboa's Geara Zulu.

"Marida, be careful," he told her as they went off.

"I will," she assured him.

Alarms went off in Reina's cabin, "3 mobile suits inbound and 1 mobile armor, all of them some form of a Zaku-type," everyone on the Eternal began bustling about. The mobile suit pilots went to their stations and mounted their mobile suits. Alarms went off throughout the ship and the crew aboard the bridge were shouting off commands to everyone on the ship. "Shirou Yamato, ZGMF Gundam Astray White Frame, Let's go!" The pure white mobile suit took off from the Eternal along with 4 other Red Astrays and Shinonome's Blue Frame. "Atlas, follow me, Crow and the rest of you guard the Eternal, make sure they don't touch us. Shino-san do what you do."

"Yes, sir, " they replied. The White Frame and one of the Red Frames went off to take on the group of Geara Zulus headed around the ship. The rest of the Red Astrays sat by the Eternal providing cover fire for them. Shinonome whipped out the Blue Frame's Beam Gatling Gun and provided support for Shirou And Atlas. Atlas engaged in a skirmish with a couple of the Gearas. Shirou took on supposedly the lead mech, piloted by Gilboa.

"CIWS, Missiles, Main Armanent, Fire," the Captain commanded. The Eternal took aim at the Garniceries, but the Gearas refused to let the ship take any damage and focused their fire on it.

"Fire the bazookas," the group of Gearas pulled out their beam bazookas and took aim at the Eternal. The Astrays near the Eternal drew out their shields and intercepted the shots. Then several blasts from their right flank instantly incapacitated them.

"Now to separate the wheat from the chaff, Funnels Fly," Marida declared. She launched several funnels from the hatches inside the shields of the Kshatriya. She opened up the shields and unleashed another volley of beams from her funnels completely eradicating the defense force.

"Crow!" Shirou yelled, "Dammit, that's no mobile armor its a suit, Atlas stay near me focus on taking down the bits. Watch out though this pilot seems very experienced in using them. Then we can take out the other enemies."

"Roger that, Shirou," the two positioned their suits back to back and began firing and deflecting shots from the Kshatriya's funnels. "There's so many of them it's hard to keep track." Atlas struggled to keep a lock on them. "Try to distract it somehow."

"Reina and I will take on the stronger mobile suit," Shinonome called out. Shinonome and Reina burst into action and flew towards the Kshatriya.

"The Gundam and the blue one are going to challenge me, so be it," Marida flew head on and opened up more Funnels. They started spraying indiscriminately and forced Reina and Shinonome to break formation. Shinonome flew back and began firing at the funnels to try and take them down. Reina charged forward and drew her Beam Boomerangs. She threw them at the Kshatriya, Marida blocked the attack with her shields by covering her front side, but they did a considerable amount of damage. Reina used the time her main camera was covered by the shields to try and circle around the Kshatriya for a direct attack with her beam sabers. Marida sensed movements with her Newtype abilities and opened up with another volley from her funnels from behind and forced the Gundam Alpha back.

"This one is so annoying, it's almost as if it can read all my movements," Reina exclaimed, "I need to defeat it, to become stronger. To overcome my fears." Her pupils dilated and her iris became a dull green. All of a sudden the world began moving slower, the funnels didn't seem nearly as fast any more. Everything became clear as if the glass that filtered the world shattered, and she drew all her resolve, "To Overcome her Fears," and placed it into this next attack. "Take this you, b-tch," Reina cut through the Kshatriya's funnel defense.

"She changed her patterns entirely," Marida exclaimed. Turning all her attention to the Gundam, she drew her beam saber and the two cross swords for the first time. Shinonome gazed at the two while she took on the squad of Geara's with Shirou and Atlas, "I guess you found it, your resolve, Reina."


	9. Char's Counter Attack 1 (UC)

"We are receiving a distress signal from the Garniceries, they are under fire from a Federation Ship, Captain Dawson," one of the deck hands called out. "We will be within range to support them within the next 30-40 minutes."

"Set a course for their coordinates," Captain Dawson replied, "All hands to battle stations prepare to launch Mobile Suits on my mark."

"I sense something is different about this battle, Captain," Frontal noted, "I'll be going out in the Sinanju, have the flight crew prepare it for me."

"As you wish, Char, may your sword guide us," the Captain replied, "Sieg Zeon!"

"Sieg Zeon," Frontal said casually, he headed off the bridge and prepared himself for battle in his quarters aboard the Rewloola.

"Gilboa-san, their resistance is a lot stronger than anticipated, these aren't Jegans," one of the pilots said. He exchanged fire with Shirou's White Frame, "they're like min-Gundams."

"We just have to hold them off for a little longer," Gilboa replied, "we have reinforcements coming from the Rewloola. Watch out!" Gilboa's face sank as the pilot he was just talking to was cut in half by Shinonome's Blue Frame. The Blue Frame's gigantic sword easily cut through the armor of the Geara Zulu like a warm knife going through a stick of butter.

"Gaaah," he heard over the communications channel as he heard his comrade fall. The Geara Zulu exploded into a cloud of pink dust, debris, and light. Gilboa continued to fight it out against Shirou's White Frame and Atlas's Red Astray, but now they were outnumbered three against two.

"Take this," he yelled, pulling reloading the bazooka and launching a round at the Red Astray. Atlas blocked it with his Beam Shield and continued his assault, the shot was dispersed into a cloud of pink debris. Drawing his Beam Rifle, he returned fire, the shots pierced through the cloud and dispersed the area around them. The shots were blocked by Gilboa raising his own shield, however the shield was destroyed by the beams but the Geara remained unscathed. Shirou maneuvered around him and tried to attack him with his Beam Saber, Gilboa blocked the attack with his Beam Tomahawk and used the time to distance himself from the two attackers.

Shinonome engaged the other Geara with her Beam Gatling Gun, the shots lit up the space around them as they flew all around. The Geara did its best to dodge the shots, being rather successful at it; he then returned fire with an airburst grenade fired from the grenade launcher attached to its Beam Machine Gun. The blast stunned Shinonome, and the Geara began circling around the Blue Frame, firing its Beam Rifle, Shinonome blocked the shots with her Beam Shield and dashed out to it. The Gatling Gun transformed into its Sword form and she dashed through the Geara Zulu cutting it through the chest. The core breached and went critical, exploding and incapacitating the Geara Zulu.

Gilboa continued his 2v1 fight against Shirou and Atlas. He pulled out his Beam Rifle and fired at Shirou and Atlas. Atlas blocked the shots for Shirou, and Shirou jumped out from behind Atlas and fired his own Beam Rifle. Gilboa turned his attention to Shirou, dodging the shots and circled around Shirou and Atlas. "This guy is a lot better than the two others," Shirou muttered to himself, "and pretty damn persistent." Shirou put away his Beam Rifle and pulled out a set of Combat Knives, he tossed the knives into the Geara's Beam Rifle, destroying it. Subsequently, Atlas pulled out his Beam Saber and charged in, the Red Astray went full speed into the Geara. The Geara drew its Beam Tomahawks and dueled it out against Atlas.

Alarms went off in Shirou's cockpit, "another enemy, where!?" Shirou looked around all over the sky but couldn't see anything. Then he saw a crimson red mobile suit heading toward Atlas and Gilboa. "Watch out, Atlas!" Atlas turned and saw the mobile suit, by then it was already too late. The Red Mobile suit pulled out its Beam Rifle and fired a couple of shots at Atlas to get him off the Geara. Atlas dodged the yellow beams and backed off the Geara; the Geara used this moment to escape from the battle. Atlas turned toward the direction of the shots, but didn't see him.

"Where is he," he exclaimed. All of a sudden, his camera just showed the crimson suit right in front of him. The Sinanju swung its Beam Axes cutting out the main camera. Shirou took action in his White Frame tossing out a set of combat knives. The Sinanju turned its head and fired its set of Vulcans at the knives displacing them from their intended target. Atlas took that moment to get away, but felt a tug pulling him back. The Sinanju managed to grab one of the derelict knives and held onto Red Astray by sticking the knife into its leg.

"Sorry," Frontal said as he armed his Beam Tonfa, a yellow light came from it, "This is war." He stuck the beam right through the cockpit instantly killing Atlas. Frontal then tossed the Red Astray aside, it exploded into a million pieces. "White one, you're next." The Sinanju pressed forward pulling its shield forward, covering the majority of its armor. Shirou responded by firing some shots, but none of them could get past his defense.

Meanwhile, Reina and Marida continued their duel. Reina managed to gain the upperhand as her SEED Factor kicked in, allowing her to keep up with the attacks of Marida and her ability to control her funnels so fluently with her Newtype powers. Yellow and pink beams flew across the sky as the two mobile suits tried to find a weakness in the other. Marida was trying to find the right angle and pattern of attack to throw off Reina's impeccable timing, dodging, and new found spatial awareness, while Reina tried to gain an opening to press her advantage and close the gap to where the Kshatriya couldn't abuse the use of its Funnels.

"Activate Mirage Colloid System," Reina commanded the computer. Soon a burst of particles came from her propulsion system. The Mobile Suit rapidly gathered speed and began producing after images as it moved. She drew out Anti-Ship Saber; the giant sword came to life as the beam saber half of it ignited. Moving in a zig-zag pattern and creating many after images, Reina made it impossible for the Kshatriya to hit it, "I've figured you out."

"No, I won't go down, Gundam," Marida replied, "I'll defat you." She opened up her mobile suit's shields and fired the Mega-Particle Cannon at the Gundam Alpha. The Gundam took the hit and Marida thought she won, but her Newtype sense kicked in; somehow she still felt the overwhelming presence of Reina and her Gundam. Then from behind a leg-less Gundam Alpha came from nowhere and slashed through the set of shields that covered the Kshatriya's backside.

Frontal sensed a disturbance and immediately ditched the battle between him and Shirou, "next time my White friend," he said as he departed. Shirou had almost lost, and he knew it. His White Frame took a lot of damage from close calls when fighting at close range. He was forced to fight at that range because Frontal's initial attack left him without a Beam Rifle to attack from afar. The Sinanju left the battle area and headed to the Kshatriya to aid it in its battle against Reina and the Gundam Alpha. Shirou noticed the battle left the suit drained of power, and limped back to the Eternal with the help of Shinonome.

"This is Shinonome Sayaka," Shinonome called over the comms, "Shirou and I are drained of energy, returning for a recharge and resupply. A new enemy entered the battlefield and wiped out our remaining forces. We need reinforcements to assist Reina, she has a strong one headed over to her."

Zachariah, watching the battle up to this point, heard the message and mounted his Astray Mirage Frame. As Shirou and Shinonome returned to the hangar, Zachariah had his mobile suit prepped and ready for launch. "Zachariah Zala, Gundam Astray Mirage Frame, deploying now," the dark purple Gundam launched off the catapult and headed off to the battle zone to assist Reina.


	10. Char's Counter Attack 2 (UC)

The Sinanju and the Kshatriya continued their simultaneous attack on the Alpha. The Kshatriya forced the crippled Gundam Alpha back with attacks from its several funnels. Unable to dodge them as effectively, the Gundam Alpha was sustaining a heavy amount of damage. In addition, the Sinanju would add in its own attacks alternating between firing its beam rifle for kill shots and going in and aggressively diving in with its beam saber.

"This is the end, Gundam," Frontal declared over his comms. Another Beam Rifle blast took disarmed the Gundam Alpha leaving it helpless. He, then charged forward, but immediately backed off when he noticed something was off. Then he heard a screech and turned around to see that the Kshatriya had been downed by an unknown fighter. Marida limped back to the Garniceries who had at this point been taken under the care of the Rewloola.

"Frontal-sama, I will be heading back," Marida said over the comms channel, "watch out for that fighter, he's strong."

"I understand," Frontal replied. He took a defensive stance, watching the skies for him. The Gundam Alpha made its way back to the Eternal. Now only a body with no legs and one arm, it was unsuited for combat. "I guess you will be added to my list of opponents 'I'll be facing sometime in the future, 'new Gundam," Frontal whispered o himself. He settled himself down and began to take in his surroundings. The Mirage Frame was extremely hard to see against the blackness of space, and he had to fall back on his abilities as a Cyber Newtype to find him. "an opponent that comes at nearly the end of the battle to only take down tired and crippled opponents, how dishonorable," he stated over the comms.

"You said it yourself earlier, ' this is war,' " Zachariah replied. He deactivated his Mirage Colloid system and went straight for the Sinanju in fighter form. In rapid succession, he fired beams from the Beam Submachine Gun mounted on the Mirage Frame. As the Mirage Frame strafed the Sinanju, Frontal raised his shield to block the incoming shots. He sensed a different plan and tried to back off, but Zachariah had managed to destroy his shield with the bladed wings of the Mirage Frame. He transformed and turned on the Sinanju and continued firing his Submachine Gun.

"You're a tricky one," Frontal said, "I like that. If I hadn't backed off from that attack, you surely would've killed me." He paused for a moment and drew a pair of Beam Tonfas. The yellow beams glowed to life and highlighted the Sinanju's villainous presence. "However, it'll take more than a few tricks to stop me." He soon began circling around the Mirage Frame and tried to find the perfect time to strike. Frontal was patient about it, as he realized his enemy's pilot, Zachariah, was either veteran of another war or a very skilled ace. "May I know your name," Frontal asked. The communications link opened up with a video message, and he got to see his enemy's face. It was a younger man but nonetheless had the look of experience on the battlefield.

"Zachariah Zala, 1st Mobile Suit Force and FAITH Member of the ZAFT Military," Zachariah replied. He drew out his Ama-no-kiri Katana from its scabbard mounted on the side of his mobile suit. "Now that my blade has tasted your blood, the next strike will surely kill," the VPS Blade transformed in strength and structure according to the combat data it collected upon cutting through the shield of the Sinanju.

"Zachariah Zala," Frontal declared, "you are a formidable opponent, and I respect that. But your blade shall not touch me." Frontal armed his Beam Tonfa and stared down at the Mirage Frame. All of time stood still as the two examined each other. The mark of experience as the two formulated their battle plans and tried to figure out what would be their best moves and counters.

Time resumed.

The Mirage Frame activated its Mirage Colloid system, immediately disappearing. Frontal scanned the skies, seeing nothing, but felt Zachariah's presence lurking about around him. The Mirage Frame jumped from above him and tried to take out the main camera. The Sinanju rotated to face him and blocked the strike with his beam tonfa. The Mirage Frame continued his attack with a kick with its bladed anklets. The Sinanju closed in on it to make sure the Mirage Frame didn't have any room to try and counterattack.

Zachariah backed off and transformed the Mirage Frame into its fighter mode and put himself farther away from the Sinanju. Transforming back into his mobile suit form and back into his fighter form to make a sharp turn, he divebombed the Sinanju, unleashing a volley of blasts from his Beam Submachine Gun. The Sinanju strafed the blast and returned fire with its Beam Rifle. The Mirage Frame twirled around the beams from the Sinanju and flew past him quickly, going to another point and repeating the same maneuver. Frontal had caught on to his tactic and timed his next blast to catch him when he was in the middle of transforming.

A direct hit, Zachariah was stunned for a bit, and the Sinanju closed the gap while firing its Beam Rifle at the Mirage Frame. Zachariah activated his SEED Factor, his eyes became a dull blue and a blue crystal shattered in his mind. He easily dodged the shots to make sure he wouldn't go down and used the momentum to gain some speed while in Mobile Suit form to push towards the Sinanju. The Sinanju challenged him and drew its Beam Tonfas. Zachariah drew his Ama-no-Kiri Katana and a combat knife; he dashed forward and the two blades met and once again. This time with the combat knife in hand Zachariah tried to go for a kill shot toward the Sinanju's cockpit but Frontal had already predicted this move. He cut off the Mirage Frame's left hand with a Beam Axe as Zachariah tried to plunge the knife into the cockpit of the Sinanju.

"Gaah," Zachariah exclaimed when the hand came off. The Mirage Frame backed off from the duel, but Frontal, knowing he had the advantage, now pressed the attack. His attacks were relentless and without the shield mounted on the left hand it was impossible to block and dodge all of them. "I won't go down here," he said to himself. The Sinanju was overwhelming him, he didn't know how to react as if the Sinanju had an idea about every way he could try to turn the battle around and blocked him out of it. "So this is what it's like to fight a true veteran." Unlike his experience fighting against, a young and wild Apollo, Frontal was controlled and calculated. He didn't make moves without a good reason and he was effective at them.

Back on the Eternal, Shinonome grew impatient as she watched the battle unfold. She wanted to assist Zachariah, but was unable to as the Blue Frame had to recharge. She put her hands together and prayed for his safe return, as the two pilots soared across the sky.

Zachariah, knowing it was only inevitable he was going to be defeated at this rate. Planned out his attack to at least cripple the Sinanju so that if anyone else was to ever meet this machine again the fight wouldn't be nearly as lopsided. He continued to exchange blows with the Sinanju, but now he grew a bit desperate. Then everything connected. He backed off and transformed into fighter mode. "This is for my friends," he said to himself. He pushed the controls to maximum charging directly into the Sinanju. The Sinanju sidestepped the attack but was still hit by the bladed wings right in the cockpit area. Zachariah wasn't left entirely unscathed, the Beam Tonfa managed to cut through most of the Mobile Suit. The right half of the Mirage Frame had been sliced completely off.

With both of their cockpits revealed, Zachariah could see the face of his foe. A blonde man dressed in a red piloting suit sat before him. His face was covered by a steel mask that had red eyes. "So this is how it ends," he told him, "two soldiers staring at each other one last time. Before one kills the other."

"I'd hardly say it's a last time," Zachariah replied, "We'll see each other some time."

"Oh I definitely believe this is the last time," Frontal said. He tried to move his mobile suit but was unable to do so. Frontal briefly looked at his Mobile Suit's hands and his own. He almost puked at the sight. The Mirage managed to cut so deeply into his cockpit that it had shred his hands apart. At first, he bellowed, realizing the loss of his hands, but then calmed down immediately after. "Well played," he told his foe, "but I see you aren't nearly hold up as well." He was right, the Beam Tonfa had cut into Zala's cockpit and managed to take his right arm clean off his shoulder.

The Rewloola sent a signal retreat and a couple of Geara's went out and picked up the Sinanju. "Frontal-sama, the Nahel Argama is on its way with reinforcements, we have to depart." The Sinanju and the Gearas rallied with the Rewloola and set a course for an asteroid field.

"I guess we will meet again, Zala," Frontal said as he gazed down at a very weak and barely conscious Zachariah. At the same time, the Eternal sent out retreat flares, Shinonome went out to pick up Zachariah and the remains of the Mirage Frame. Upon gazing at the cockpit, Shinonome was horrified at what she saw. She hopped out of the cockpit and went towards Zachariah. Unlocking the straps that kept him held to the cockpit of the Mirage Frame, she flew him back up to the Blue Frame and flew it and the Mirage Frame back the Eternal.

"Sayaka, " Zachariah smiled weakly, "man, am I glad you came." She put her head against his as they glided into the hangar of the Eternal. Even though they were wearing helmets, he could feel her warmth stretch out to him.

"You did great, Zach," she assured him. Shinonome held him close as they touched down in the hangar. The flight crew helped them out and rushed Zachariah to medical wing. The Nahel Argama approached the Eternal and stopped near it. The Captain noticed and the deckhands searched for open communication channels for the two ships to talk to each other.

"This is Captain Joash Connor of the Eternal speaking, " he declared, "we are in need of assistance please respond." Dead silence for a minute. "Try a different channel," he told one of the deckhands, before he touched the panel, they heard microphone buffering on the other side.

"This is Captain Otto Mitas of the Nahel Argama," he replied, "we are willing to assist you on one condition. You and your crew will assist us in our mission or at least declare that you are allies with the Earth Federation." Those words would mark the beginning of the Eternal joining the Federation amidst the Laplace conflict to wipe out the remnants of Zeon.


	11. Apollo Zala 5 (00)

Apollo awoke, the lights dazed him a bit. He looked around the room and saw unknown faces. He saw what appeared to be a young Middle Eastern man and several other people. He faded in and out of consciousness, but his time aboard was interesting as he saw new faces pass in and out of the room every day. At one point he was capable of moving around a bit, but his arms and legs felt heavy, so he rested a bit longer. The faces became clearer as his eyesight recovered. Eventually he came to complete consciousness, and awoke to see a young man his age facing him, it was the Middle Eastern one that he'd first seen upon arrival.

"Where am I," he asked, "he looked around the room and saw that he was hooked up to a bunch of machines. It frightened him at first, but he wasn't surprised. The man cleared his throat and spoke.

"You're aboard the Ptolemaios," he replied, "are you feeling better, this is the first time you've been conscious in a month."

"Yeah much better," Apollo laughed. He then came to the realization that he'd been in a coma for a month, he let it pass over him and asked, "What is your name?"

"My name is Setsuna F. Seiei," he replied, "what is yours?"

"The name is Apollo, Apollo Zala," Apollo replied.

"How, am I here?"

"We found your Mobile Suit drifting towards Earth. It was a miracle that we found you alive," he said. Apollo looked around and saw his uniform drifting around on a hanger. He tried to get up again but his body still felt heavy. "Let me help you up," Setsuna grunted as he lifted Apollo up. Apollo took his first steps and noticed something odd about his foot steps. As he lumbered around, his foot steps made a metallic clang as he stepped across the floor.

"What is this," Apollo said to himself. He lifted his leg up and noticed they were a metallic gray, and almost immediately he noticed his hands were also the same metallic gray. "My arms, my legs, " he exclaimed. He stood on his own and took a good look at both his prosthetic arms and legs.

"Your arms and legs were frozen solid and had become necrotic," Setsuna informed him, "in addition you may not notice yet but you're eyes have changed. We replaced them because you were blind." Apollo looked around and realized that his eyes had a built-in HUD. As he scanned the room, he could look at objects and grab information about them.

"What did you people do to me," Apollo cried. Then another man walked in, he had long purple hair and wore a set of round glasses. He was slightly taller than Setsuna and wore a purple button-up shirt and a lab coat. He had a pale complexion and was thin and lanky unlike Setsuna and Apollo who were much more toned and balanced in proportion.

"You were a dead man and all we did was replace the parts that were dead with better ones, " he told Apollo, "Barely anything in your body was functioning other than your vital organs and your brain, even those were at a minimal state." He adjusted his glasses, "it looked like you went through hell and back." He strode over to the side of Apollo's bed and entered some information into the holo-tablet on it.

"Who are you," Apollo asked.

"Tieria Erde, " he replied, "I was in charge of most of the procedure to replace your arms and legs with the prosthetic ones you have now as well as recovering your eyesight with cybernetic eyes you have now. You should thank me." He drifted over to another part of the room and checked the other machines and recorded their data. "Well, that and you should thank Setsuna here as he indirectly helped with the creation of your arms and legs. If it wasn't for the ELS assisting us a lot of this technology wouldn't even be possible."

"ELS," the name struck a chord in Apollo's memory. He wasn't exactly the science nerd, so he couldn't remember exactly what it was. After a moment, it him hard. "WAIT THIS IS ELS?!"

"Yes, they're helpful little metallic sprites, " Tieria added. Apollo was trying to work in his head what was going on.

"So they don't destroy humanity?!"

"What are you talking about, of course they didn't or else we wouldn't be talking right now. Setsuna, here fixed all of that," Tieria replied. Apollo looked at Setsuna and looked at his hands then back at him.

"What happened," Apollo asked. Setsuna then began retelling the events of what he called the "Awakening of the Trailblazer." The ELS had traveled across the universe and in doing so assimilated whatever material came in their way to join their ranks. They came across Earth and first transformed a secret research station on Jupiter into part of their horde. As they neared Earth, all of Earth's forces joined together for one final battle. The battle was the greatest anyone had every seen before, but Setsuna was able to communicate with the ELS and stopped the attack.

"Wait you're over a 100 years old," Apollo exclaimed. Setsuna didn't look a day over 20.

"That is the effect of becoming an Innovator," Setsuna said.

Tieria added, "more specifically, the amount of GN particles he's been exposed to have prevented the degradation of his telomeres. Essentially making him immortal as long as disease doesn't take him or he dies in combat."

Apollo dressed in his ZAFT uniform and began walking out of the room, "I need to see the Omega, " he said to the two. Tieria and Setsuna guided him to the Ptolemaios's hangar. Apollo saw three other mobile suits on the way. The first one was a blue color, mounted on it was a large shielded on its right shoulder that contained what appeared to be several blades. In fact that was the only types of arms he saw on the blue Gundam, only blades of all shapes and sizes. It shared a lot of similarities with the Mirage Frame that Zachariah piloted, but seemed a lot more majestic in the deep blue color instead of the dark purple that covered the Mirage Frame.

"That is the 00-Gundam Qan(T) Exia, that is Setsuna's Gundam," Tieria said, "it is a CQB type suit, but is outfitted with many instruments to take on foes from afar." The next one in the line was a white and black suit that carried a very large backpack unit. The backpack unit looked like it carried another mobile suit in it. It additionally carried a set of many large cannons. "That is my suit, the CB2-0002 Raphael Gundam. Over there on the other side is the sniper type suit GN-0010 Gundam Zabanya." Apollo looked over and saw the Zabanya. It was outfitted with several bit units and a long Beam Sniper. It was painted a forest green and was armed with what appeared to be several Beam Pistols, opting for range over taking a Beam Saber as a side armanent. He guessed the pilot knew his strengths and took advantage of it. The three of them walked over to the end of the hangar where he saw the Omega Gundam standing tall.

He recalled when he first saw the Omega and Alpha Gundam units. They stood tall and mighty like when he gazed upon it this time. The two units shared many characteristics with their supposed predecessor, the Destiny Gundam. The tear shaped cut-outs on the mask and the glowing wings of the suit amazed him when he took it out for the first time.

"For the record can I take an official name for your mobile suit," Tieria asked.

"ZGMF - X100 Gundam Parallel Code: Omega, is its official name, " Apollo replied, "however just call it the Gundam Omega."


	12. Apollo Zala 6 (00)

Apollo and Setsuna climbed into the cockpits of their respective Mobile Suits, and Tieria went off to talk with the Engineering Team that repaired the Omega. They were examining holographic layouts of the different parts, specifically they were looking at the special Parallel Core that powered the mobile suit. "This technology is amazing," they constantly said, as they observed the core starting up.

"How does it work, " Tieria asked, he was intrigued because he knew everything about the GN Drives and similar technologies that powered their mobile suits. However he had yet to see anything different that apparently could operate just at the same strength as the GN Drives. Chief Engineer, Mileina Vashti, came up out of the crowd of other engineers to talk to Tieria. She was an elderly woman who had the look of someone who's seen many years of life. Thanks to integration with the ELS and consistent exposure to the GN particles her life span and vitality vastly expanded to help her live this long.

"Well now that our pilot has completely recovered we get to see how this system works, Tieria," she said, "it's an interesting piece of technology and arguably much more advanced than our own GN Drives." She pointed out the different processes that were going on inside the Omega Gundam and explained them all to Tieria. "There is one part of the Omega Gundam that disturbs me."

"What is it, Mileina," Tieria asked.

"In the core is a particle collider, I don't know what purpose it is there for, but there is one very ominous indicator that this Gundam plays with dangerous forces. When we first opened the inside of the Omega we discovered that parts near the core of the suit were stretched towards the middle of the core which has a very large and seemingly unnecessary cavity."

"Are you suggesting the suit carries within it the power to create an artificial singularity?"

"Yes. I think this Gundam unit is not just a powerful combat suit. It is also a walking weapon of mass destruction. Be careful with him and make sure that whatever happens, that he never goes down. We have no way of stopping the catastrophe if his core goes critical."

"Understood, Mileina," Tieria replied.

Apollo and Setsuna placed their suits on the launch catapults aboard the Ptolemaios 2 Kai. "Setsuna F. Seiei, Gundam Qan(T) Exia, launching," the Qan(T) rumbled off the launch catapult and into orbit. A stream of light green blue GN Particles flew behind it as it flew towards it intended destination. It went off towards the solar ring that surrounded Earth and waited for the Omega Gundam.

Apollo looked at his hands, he was still getting used to his new set of limbs. They were slightly heavier than his arms and legs but they still moved just as naturally. He pulled down the visor on his helmet and switched on all the controls. "Apollo Zala, Gundam Omega, let's go," he said. The Omega was launched off the catapult and dipped a bit as it left the launch bay of the Ptolemaios. He activated the Voiture Lumierre system on the Omega Gundam and the pseudo-wings of the Gundam came to life. They shone in a brilliant display of bright red as Apollo soared across the sky to Setsuna's coordinates.

People on the orbital elevators watched two fly into place. A little girl watched the Omega Gundam intently, "that one is pretty, its like a butterfly," she said. The glowing wings were visible from the orbital elevator and their reach spread across the skies. The 00 Qan(T) and the Omega stood off and faced each other.

 _"Yo, Setsuna," Apollo said, "mind if I train against you for a bit. It's been a while since I've last been in the Omega." Setsuna just looked at him and nodded. It was all the agreement, Apollo needed._

Apollo got himself psyched up for the battle while Setsuna waited calmly in the cockpit of the 00. Then they both took off. The two mobile suits flew across the sky. The Omega left a trail of red pink particles as it flew around the solar ring. The 00's GN Particle trail followed closely behind it. The Omega broke off from the solar ring and pulled out its Beam Rifle. Apollo took aim at the 00 and tried to test its strength. He fired some shots directly at it but they were deflected by the GN Particle field surrounding it. Setsuna armed the GN Blade III and charged toward the Omega while firing shots from it.

"A gun blade," Apollo said, "but I've already seen that trick before." He remembered the Blue Frame's Tactical Backpack that could switch between several different weapons. He blocked the particle blasts with his Shield Generator and countered with his own. The 00 dodged them and prepared itself to attack with the blade. Setsuna hit the 00 into full throttle and positioned the blade as to thrust it into the Omega. A pair of blue circles pulsed from the back of the 00 Qan(T) as it pushed forward. "I like where this is going, " Apollo said to himself. He drew the Beam Saber equipped to the Omega and pushed the sticks forward on the Omega. Throwing its hand back, the Omega's wings of light flared and the two rushed towards each other.

As Setsuna and Apollo's swords clashed, Setsuna noticed something was off from his strike, "What is this," the sword had completely missed the shoulder as Setsuna had originally intended. Instead, the Omega had somehow completely sidestepped the attack and was about to strike the main camera of the 00 Qan(T). Setsuna, on instinct, yelled, "Trans-am." The 00 Qan(T) glowed red and disappeared.

"What the hell, " Apollo exclaimed. His strike went through the 00's quantized image. Apollo realized that this was a trick and turned his suit and found the 00 Qan(T) about to disarm him. "50% Time Alter," he whispered. The Wormhole in the Omega's core roared to life and began expanding rapidly.

Aboard the Ptolemaios, the Engineering team freaked out as they saw the quantum wave reader going haywire. "Setsuna what's going on out there, I thought you were just doing light training," Tieria yelled over the comm-link.

 _Nina walked up to Apollo after one of his mock battles against Zachariah and took him aside, "I know you are a natural, no offense. I also know because of this fact, that despite your piloting expertise, you won't be able to compete against people like him who have the ability to use the SEED Factor."_

 _"Yeah, so," Apollo replied, "I don't see why not having a SEED is detrimental when I'm already doing so well against pilots with it."_

 _"This is insurance," Nina said as she handed him a memory stick, "It's a new system that I designed for the Omega, it uses the Wormhole inside the Omega to alter the flow of time around you."_

 _"How will it feel like if I use this?"_

 _"You'll see," she smiled._

All of a sudden time slowed down for Apollo, he looked around and got to see every detail of the 00's movements as well as being able to see the particles emitted from both suits crawling out of the propulsion systems. Apollo moved the Omega over to dodge the 00's attack and began launching his own, he aimed at the 00's hand to inflict the least amount of damage to the suit. Then time went back to its normal pace. Setsuna was shocked that anyone could've dodged that attack. He saw the Omega move so effortlessly to dodge the attack and on top of that it launched its own attack, slicing off the 00's hand as the mobile suit flew past him.

The engineering team aboard the Ptolemaios calmed down when they saw the readings fall back to normal levels. Apollo turned off the Beam Saber and headed back to the Ptolemaios. Setsuna watched as the red winged mobile suit flew back to the Ptolemaios, "he's strong," he said to himself. Setsuna grabbed the stray hand and sword and headed back to the Ptolemaios.


	13. Reina Kimura 3 (UC)

Reina and Shinonome stood next to Zachariah, whom was laid unconscious in the medical bay. Frontal's onslaught and battle experience got the best of him, the Mirage Frame was nearly destroyed and Zachariah lost his right arm completely. Shinonome, who rescued him after the battle, was completely devastated. She stayed by his side almost the whole time since he entered the medical bay. She held his left hand and watched over him silently as the doctors operated on him to fix any other puncture wound caused by flying debris. Luckily, the beam saber Zachariah was cut by cauterized the wound, otherwise he would've bled to death long before he could've gotten help in time.

Reina left after a while and drifted around the ship, "why does this happen to people who try to protect me," she asked herself constantly. Remembering, Apollo's apparent death to save the Eternal and now Zachariah paid the price with his future as a mobile suit pilot. All just to make sure that she would live. It sickened her every time she thought them. As she walked around she saw Shirou looking out one of the panoramic windows. "What are you doing here," she asked him.

"Just...," he paused and begun to break down in tears. After the events of the last few days, Shirou wasn't the same bright face as when he first boarded the Eternal. Reina remembered that Shirou lost more in the last three days than anyone else on this ship. First, his lifelong friend dies right in front of him in a situation out of his control. More recently, his comrades from the academy were slaughtered by their encounter with the Sinanju and the Kshatriya. As Reina realized this, she felt empathy for him knowing they and many others aboard the Eternal were in the same situation. "Why does it have to be like this, " he cried, "first, Apollo, then Atlas, Crow, Dylan..." Shirou's words were broken up as he tried to choke them past his tears. He was interrupted as Reina wrapped her arms around him and held him close.

"I know, I know, we all lost our friends out there, " Reina assured him. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she remembered Zachariah's disfigured body and her memories with Apollo, "we just have to be strong for those we still have left." Shirou held her close and cried into her shoulder. Reina rested her head against Shirou's as they embraced. "Apollo, told me when we first met that as long as he was there we'd be alright," Reina said looking into his reddened eyes, "now I'll tell you as long as I'm here that maybe things won't be great, but at least you'll have a shoulder to cry on." She tried to hold back the tears, but as she remembered Apollo's face as he left the Eternal the last time, she couldn't help but let them flow.

Shirou looked at her past teary eyes and rest his head on Reina's shoulder. Reina ran her hand through his gray and white hair brought his head closer to her. Shinonome was excused from the medical bay and saw the two still locked in their embrace while on her way back to her quarters. She checked on them to see if they were still awake, but they were fast asleep at that point. Shinonome decided to not disturb them because everyone on the Eternal needed some rest, especially those two.

Inside the briefing room, the Captains of the two ships met to discuss their terms and agreements as they worked out a temporary alliance between the two. In the room, Captain Mitas had beside him Banagher Links, the mobile suit pilot for the Gundam Unicorn, and Riddhe Marcenas, another skilled mobile suit pilot. Both are capable soldiers and thus he assigned them to his envoy. Inside the room with the Eternal's Captain Connor was first mate, Atra Trine, a young woman who made it her goal in the academy to be a captain one day like her grandfather, Arthur Trine, a hero during the Third Valentine war and captain of the Minerva.

The two captains ran through all the paperwork to set up a fair agreement between the two ships. The Nahel Argama would contact the Federation's top scientists and engineers to assist the Eternal in finding a way home. In exchange, the Eternal would assist the Nahel Argama in defeating "The Sleeves," an insurrectionist group belonging to the remnants of an organization known as Neo-Zeon. The two shook hands and Captain Connor offered them a tour of the ship. He showed them all the different rooms and quarters aboard the Eternal. More importantly, Captain Mitas, Banagher, and Riddhe wanted to see the Mobile Suit hangar. On the way they passed by Reina and Shirou sleeping in front one of the windows. Atra walked over to them and woke them up. Reina and Shirou quickly got up, readied themselves, and saluted Captain Connor.

"At ease," Connor told them, "Captain Mitas, I'd like you to meet two of our mobile suit pilots, Reina Kimura and Shirou Yamato." They cleaned themselves up a bit and stood at attention.

"Nice to meet you two," Mitas said proudly, "I look forward to working with you and the rest of the crew aboard the Eternal. Links, Marcenas, please step forward." The two men standing behind him strode up front and saluted.

"My name is Banagher Links, it's nice meeting you," Banagher stated. Reina and Shirou realized he wasn't that much older than themselves, same with the other young man standing on the other side of Captain Mitas. Banagher was a young man with brown hair that was swept aside. Unlike his Captain and the other man, he did not wear a gray and red uniform. Instead he wore a black gray jacket over an eggshell colored hoodie.

"My name is Riddhe Marcenas," Riddhe stated, "I've heard plenty about you two from Captain Connor. He holds you two up highly, and it will be an honor working with you." Marcenas unlike his comrade, Banagher, looked a lot more disciplined and wore his uniform proudly. He had blonde hair that was cleanly cut and combed over. He stepped back and waited for further instruction.

"Thank you, Banagher, Riddhe," Mitas said, "now, I want to see what else you have aboard the Eternal."

"Ah, yes, Captain," Connor replied, "well right this way. Reina, Shirou take Banagher and Riddhe to the mobile suit hangar. I'm sure that's all they want to see aboard the Eternal anyways."

"Yes, sir," they replied. The four of them walked off to the hangar while Mitas, Connor and Atra continued exploring the rest of the ship. Banagher, Riddhe, Reina, and Shirou entered the hangar and saw the Mobile Suits being repaired. All that was left after that battle were a couple of Red Astrays for the green horn mobile suit pilots, Shinonome's Blue Frame, Zachariah's Mirage Frame, Shirou's White Frame, and the Gundam Parallel Alpha. Banagher and Riddhe were pretty amazed by their arsenal of mobile suits. The designs shared a lot in common with the Gundam, and there were so many of them. Banagher and Riddhe explored on their own for a bit, Banagher asked the engineers repairing and maintaining the suits about their specs. They soon figured out he was a student at a technical institute who was swept into the conflict between the Federation and Zeon. He really dove into learning how all the machines functioned.

Riddhe on the other hand was like most other soldiers, he rose through the ranks as a respectable soldier. Following orders and growing in his skill in combat and becoming distinguished amongst his peers. Riddhe noticed that among the empty slots left in the hangar, the one next to the Alpha had a label on it, "Omega," he made out as he squinted to read it, "I'm guessing it was the sister unit to the Gundam Alpha." He looked at Reina and Shirou, Reina turned her eyes away from him.

"Yes it was," Reina said with a wavering voice. Riddhe noticed and decided not to continue. She grasped for Shirou's hand and they interlocked.

"I'm sorry if that brought up some bad memories," he replied seriously, "in war we all lose people, that's just how it is. My condolences."

"Thank you, " Reina replied.

Riddhe acknowledged her and turned his attention elsewhere. He joined Banagher and took a look at the mobile suits. Riddhe even climbed into the cockpit of one of the Red Astrays to get a feel for them. Everyone enjoyed the bonding experience. After a couple of hours Captain Mitas and crew left the ship and invited the Captain, mobile suit pilots and others to have a tour of the Nahel Argama. Captain Connor, Shinonome, and Nina left the Eternal to take a look at the inner workings of the Nahel Argama.

Now alone in her living quarters and many of her burdens lifted off her, Reina rested peacefully.


	14. Blackhat (?)

Hello reader, welcome to the Eternal's Armory Database

I see you have opened up the Mobile Suit Database

Please verify you're identity by placing your ZAFT ID on the console

ID: SYS_ADMIN/Password: ********** accepted Opening Database now

loading loading loading

ZGMF -X2000 GOUF Ignited

Known Pilots: Apollo Zala (status: MIA)

Armanents: "Tempest" Beam Sword, Shield, M181SE"Draupnir" Beam Machine Gun.

History: An older mobile suit dating back to the 2nd Valentine War (CE 73). Its primary use was by high ranking officers in the the ZAFT military.

MVFM11C_Murasame Known Pilots: Atlas(Status: KIA), Crow(Status:KIA)

Armanents: M2M5D 12.5mm Automatic CIWS, Type 70J Kai Beam saber, Type 72 Kai "Ikazuchi" Beam rifle, Beam Shield Generator History: Often called Red Astrays by the general infantry and even among the Mobile Suit pilots that don't pilot them. They share a lot in common with their predecessor, the Astray. Originally built by the ORB Union these versatile mass production units proved that they can take on the strongest of enemies time and time again. Thus when ZAFT and ORB declared and alliance after the 2nd Valentine war, they were inducted as the primary mass production mobile suit of the military. Today, the Murasame still, by and large, is the main mobile suit of the UHFS military, especially for ZAFT and ORB units and has been upgraded to match with the times.

MBF-P03secondL Gundam Astray Blue Frame Second L

Known Pilots: Shinonome Sayaka

Armanents: CIWS, Beam Shield Generator, Armor Piercing Combat Knives, Tactical Arms System(FLIGHT, GATLING, SWORD), Postiron Blaster Cannon.

History: Known by its shorter name, the Blue Frame, the Gundam Astray Blue frame was once a mobile suit used by a mercenary group, but was later adopted by the ZAFT military upon finding the schematics for it years later. Only a few pilots make use of the mobile suit because of the Tactical Arms System being hard to manage. The Tactical Arms System allows Blue Frame to take on multiple combat roles all at once, and has such been known to take on the role of being a support unit.

MBF-P05LM3 Gundam Astray Mirage Frame 3rdCustom

Known Pilots: Zachariah Zala

Armanents: Beam Submachine Gun, Beam Saber, "Ama-no-Kiri" Katana, Compact Swords, Anklet Swords, Bracelet Swords, CIWS, Tactical System(Brute Fighter), Physical Beam Shield.

History: A customized version of the Mirage Frame 3rd Issue, Zachariah managed to obtain the schematics for the suit from Librarian Works during a ZAFT raid on their hideout. Retaining the original suit's menacing purple color and design, the 3rd Custom functions as a very strong CQB Fighter Mobile Suit designed for effective combat in space and other low gravity environments.

System Access Denied

"That's odd, why would it do that, I need to dig deeper."

resend(IP: NOaddress)

key(int x, int z) {

int x = (Password)

int z = encryption( .break())

(return Pass)}

Pass returned: ProjectParallel

"What is this, a secret government project, oh goodie."

ID: SYS_Admin/ Password: ************* Accepted

accessing information Loading... Welcome Professor

accessing Project Parallel Files

de-crypting

"Alright, I'm in, time to see what ZAFT has been hiding from us."

ZGMF Code:Alpha Gundam Parallel

Known Pilots: R**** K*****

Armanents: Anti-ship Swords 2x, Beam Rifle 2x, Positron Lance Bits, Beam Boomerang 2x, Beam shield Generator, Overdrive System: Bit Generator. Parallel Sequence

ZGMF Code:Omega Gundam Parallel

Known Pilots: A***** Z***

Armanents: 2x Variable Output Beam Rifle,2x Beam Sabers, 2x Type2 Beam Sabers, Beam Shield Generator, Overdrive System:Time Alter. Parallel Sequence.

What are the Parallel sequences?

The sequences are a WMD caused by a singularity. The Parallel Sequences will activate on the pilot's of the Parallel Gundam's command. The cores will be overloaded and thrown into the Grey Matter Swarm, causing total annihilation of the Grey Matter and to the surrounding area.

Project Timeline: 3 Years Ago - Initial Design Finished. Construction begins. 2 Years Ago - Wormhole Core testing in remote locations. Initial cores destroyed. 1 Year 8 Months - Wormhole Core Stabilized. Work on mobile suit begins. 9 Months - Mobile Suits finished, further testing of the cores reveals that extended use can and will cause system failure. No current solution to problem other than regular maintenance and part replacement. 5 Months - ZAFT orders the project to be rushed. Pilot selection process begins. 3 Months - First pilot application accepted. 2 Months - Second Pilot application accepted. Parallel Program HQ moved aboard the ZGMF Eternal. Spearheaded by Dr. Nina Espada. 1 Month Ago - Lost contact with Eternal, estimated losses 300 Billion Credits in resources and Project Data. 600 Lives lost.

WARNING: ACCESS CONSOLE COMPROMISED

"Dammit not now, this is huge, the world must know."

/command lock_sys_temp(2000)

Command accepted. System entry locked for 2000 seconds.

"Alright time to copy this data and make it look like it I was never here."

MEMORY DRIVE FOUND

COPYING DATA

/command clearlogs

Command accepted. Clear user logs(Y/N)

Y [enter]

Logs cleared. Exiting System Database.

"So the spark of rebellion starts here." The computer closes and a man walks up and out of the dark room.


	15. Author's Note: Blackhat

TPBVIRUS: If you made it up to the last chapter, thank you for taking your time and enjoying my work. I just wanted to address my latest chapter "Blackhat." I want to first address that a lot of the punctuation was deleted by Fanfiction, and it was important because it would've denoted user input into a command prompt and command prompt output. As well as making the pseudo-hacking-code look legit. This was important for this section of the story because I wanted to touch upon another aspect of warfare that the writers of Gundam have never included (at least from what I've seen), and that is intelligence and especially cyber warfare. Not just like the engineers randomly upgrading the MS software.

Anyways, thank you for coming this far and I hope you're enjoying the story.

EDIT: I also want to add that the story is going to get super complicated from her on out as there's pretty much gonna be three different stories happening at once. So I'm gonna help you guys out in the future with subtitles denoting what timeline we're talking about until all three eventually converge.

Universal Century (UC) – where Reina and company are currently stuck. As you see already, they are currently caught up in the story of Gundam Unicorn, and could affect how that plays out.

Anno Domini (00) – currently where Apollo is in the Gundam Universe. Now aboard the Ptolemaios 2 Kai, he has his work cut out for him if he wants to return home.

Cosmic Era (SEED) – to be revealed, but stuff is happening here too that our characters are unaware of.


	16. Insurrection (SEED)

A man walked up to the stand and settled himself down. He was about to begin his speech in front of a crowd of thousands of news reporters, foreign dignitaries, and other important people. He was dressed in a red suit and a white button up shirt. He had short, golden, blonde hair that was lightly combed to the side and held down by a layer of gel. The teleprompter turned on and he looked toward it and began readied himself to speak to the audience.

"Please welcome, Guile Cagalli-Athha, new Head Representative of the ORB Union, " stated the Spokesperson of the UHFS Council of World Leaders.

"Thank you for coming today, I know today of all days is special," he paused for effect, "today is the day that my grandmother, Cagalli Yula-Athha, united the PLANTs and the nations of Earth together under one banner known as the United Human Federation of Sovereign states. I gathered you all here today because my wish is to continue following the same path that my grandmother set in motion many years ago." He stared out into the audience to draw their attention after reading those lines off the teleprompter. "As promised in my campaign for this prestigious postion, I want to set the foundations of a welfare system for the people of Earth. After the 3rd Valentine War, Earth has been left in socioeconomic shambles, and I wish to help the suffering masses there to as much as my position allows me."

"How do you plan on doing this," a reporter asked. She and several others held out their microphones and flashes of light from many cameras lit up the room.

"I plan on increasing current tax rates, nothing comes free, I'll have to tell you all. But this is for a noble cause, there are men, women, children, many of which are my people. I have friends that have lived and died in poverty and starvation, and my wish is for the people of the PLANTs to extend their hand in helping them to no longer suffer in silence."

"Speaking of increasing taxes for welfare, allegations are surfacing that ORB has been supporting ZAFT in the creation of another WMD," a man said in the crowd. The crowd's attention turned to him and saw a man in a thick black coat and a microphone in his hand, "people of the UHFS don't let this man nor anyone from the UHFS Council deceive you any longer." The screens in the room went dark, and then reconnected to a different channel. "This is where your tax dollars go already," they projected images war and violence. Blood and gore. This stirred the audience up.

"Athha-san, we need to get you out of here," a secret service member said to him in his ear piece, "the situation is turning hostile."

"MORE IMPORTANTLY," the man in black placed onto the screen. the file data retrieved in a recent security breach. They showed footage of a colony imploding as a black hole crushed it into non-existence. "This is a weapon of mass destruction that the UHFS in tandem with ZAFT and ORB has been creating. It is a bomb capable of destroying entire sections of space." The crowd became unsettled and soon became angry, "the taxes you have been paying haven't been for a noble cause like helping Earth. They've went towards the military creating something that's been banned for several centuries by this man's own grandmother." He aggressively pointed at Guile, "this idealism he speaks about is nothing more than a facade to earn votes, just like any scumbag politician. He's a fake, a liar he's nothing like Cagalli."

"No, that isn't true."

"Then how do you explain this," the man in black put on the screen profile pictures of the crew of the Eternal. "Earlier this month in a joint effort by both the ORB Union and ZAFT, the Eternal was recommissioned. The project itself has your name written all over it." The man in black then produced evidence suggesting that Guile dedicated a major part of ORB's budget went to a black budget and the contents now declassified stood before them, "this man and the other leaders in the UHFS Council are conducting secret projects like this. The faces you see on the screen now, they are all dead, last month, all 600 crew members were killed in combat or went MIA. Something seems fishy about this and we all know who to blame."

The crowd was shocked by the news, the Eternal launched without a hitch and the ceremony was broadcast to all of the UHFS to bring up troop morale in the fight against the Grey Matter. Learning that all of them are dead brought down everyone's spirit and was the final nail in the coffin for Guile's career in politics and the end of the legitimacy of the UHFS's authority.

"Guile let's go," Guile agreed silently and the secret service escorted him off the stage. The crowd came into an uproar and stormed the stage. The foreign dignitaries sitting in the front followed Guile but were cut off by an angry crowd of people and captured. Guile and his group made it to his escort transport. They were pursued by Black Flag rebels and the rebels fired upon them. Guile and his group quickly took cover behind cargo boxes in the hangar. One of the secret service guys was shot down before getting behind cover. The rest of them returned fire at the rebel position. "Guile get into the ship, we'll cover you."

On the count of three, the secret service got up and started spraying their handguns into the rebel position in order to keep them down. Guile boarded the escort, but while he was boarding he was shot in the leg by a stray bullet. More of the secret servicemen joined him aboard and the ship took off. The escort ship was assisted by two Murasames as it left the port of December City. They were soon ambushed by two GOUF units and several Zaku's. The Murasames held off the ambush while the escort made its way off.

"Contact the Archangel Mikael," the escort ship pilot said, "we need assistance. The pilot flipped a switch and revealed a Blue Frame Tactical unit hiding in the back of the escort ship. The Blue Frame engaged the GOUFs while the Murasames exchanged fire with the Zaku Warriors. Guile was getting worried as the conflict was beginning to escalate. A GOUF broke past the Blue Frame and pursued the ship firing its beam rifle. Then flying past them in a blue, blinding light were several different parts and a core fighter.

"Shinji Asuka, Force Impulse Strike Gundam, Let's go," the parts joined together and created the mobile suit. A modern remake of the Impulse Gundam, the Impulse Strike Gundam, combines the simplicity of the Strike Packages and the ability to move the independent parts of the Impulse Gundam.

"A Gundam," Fareed said to himself, "take this." His GOUF turned its attention to the Gundam and fired its beam rifle at the Impulse Strike Gundam. The Impulse shrugged off the blast with its Beam Displacement Shield and returned fire with its own Beam Rifle, Fareed's GOUF was hit in the shoulder. Fareed backed off and escaped, knowing that the Gundam was too strong for his suit. Gara noticed and flew off in his GOUF. The Zaku Warriors didn't notice the entrance of the Gundam as they were just finishing off the Murasames and wearing out the Blue Frame.

"Send the Blast Strike Package," Shinji ordered. He detached the Force Package and the backpack flew back to the Archangel Mikael. Another backpack carrying a heavier set of gear and cannons replaced it. He aimed the Beam Cannons at the group of Zakus and fired it. Most of the Zaku Warriors were immediately eliminated but a few managed to escape. Shinji opened fire on them with the missile bays armed on the Blast Strike Package. The air-to-air missiles whistled their way towards the Zakus, the explosion caught one of the Zakus but one more survived and tried to complete its escape. "Send the Sword Strike Package," Shinji ordered once again, the Blast Package detached and flew back to the Archangel and was soon replaced by the Sword Package. The Sword Package lightened the Impulse Strike's load by a lot, and he was able to catch up to the stray Zaku. The Zaku pulled out its Beam Axe from its shield, but Shinji struck off its hand with the Impulse Strike's "Tempest" Beam Saber. Shinji finished off the Zaku by cutting through the Zaku's cockpit. The Zaku exploded into a cloud of pink dust, and the Impulse Strike went back to the escort ship.

"Two escaped, but it looks like all your pursuers are gone, Guile," Shinji assured Guile.

"Thank you, Shinji," Guile replied, "just in time there." Guile sat back in the seat of his escort ship as it boarded the Archangel Mikael. The Impulse Strike Gundam waited in the space near the Archangel just in case there was any follow up attack by the rebels. Now aboard the sanctuary of the Mikael, Guile felt safe. Liutenant Lisa Rammius reported to the hangar with her team of guards to escort Representative Athha to his quarters.

"What happened out there," she asked, "who was that?"

"I don't know, " Guile replied, "and I'd like to find out. And he spout off nonsense about ORB supporting the research of WMDs. The crowd heard what they heard. But just get me some information on him." Two officers approached him with tablets containing information about the man that incited the violence in December City.

"He's the head of the rebel organization known as, the Black Flag," they said, "he's known only to the public as Big Boss, nothing else is known about him, and all files we get about him somehow get erased, so we think he has a very skilled black hat hacker working for him."

"I see," Guile replied, "take me to the bridge, I need to speak with Captain WengFang." Aboard the bridge, the deckhands and Captain Zhu WengFang watched the events unfold in December City. Riots and the mob ruled the street. The UHFS Embassy in the city came under fire and the UHFS forces there were being overwhelmed.

"This is madness," WengFang said to his crew, "I think we are on the brink of another war." Everyone's faces darkened at the thought of another war.


	17. Chaos (SEED)

The streets were filled with the mob as they stormed through the city towards the UHFS December City Central Office. Black Flag mobile suits stormed the colony and overwhelmed the security forces protecting the Central Office. The rebels handed rioters guns to stand against the riot control squads that took to the streets. Other rebels took to the roofs and armed their RPGs and portable Beam Weapons firing at the security force's Murasames and Windams to support their comrades in the mobile suits.

The security forces tried their best to handle the situation but the odds were stacked against them. Businesses were being looted, innocent families cowered in fear as the mobs broke in and destroyed and stole everything they owned. Office workers in the UHFS building feared for their lives as the rebel forces were pushing towards the main gate of the UHFS building.

The inside of the colony turned into a war zone as the rebels pushed forward. Buildings were set ablaze; sounds of guns, rockets, and mobile suit combat, filed the air; people were yelling; mothers cried; the blood of the security forces and rebels filled the streets. The UHFS staff in the Central Office attempted to evacuate as the rebels broke through the main gate. The sounds of terrible violence rung through their ears as the staff heard the guns blazing and the windows shattering as they made their escape. The mob rushed through the building and began looking for the staff.

"Search everywhere for them," one of the mobsters, "leave none of them alive. The UHFS staff ran through a secret tunnel that lead to an exit where a transport was waiting for them. The staff ran for their lives as they knew that their lives would soon be over if they were caught. The rebels caught up to them, and began firing at the staff as they ran through the tunnel. The ones in the back of the line fell dead as the bullets penetrated them. The guards armed their riot shields and tried to hold the mob back while the rest of the staff boarded the transports to attempt to go to safety.

The remaining staff that boarded the four transports witnessed the last stand of the guards that were assigned to protect them. They took cover behind whatever they could as the rebels stormed the port. Bullets ricocheted off the side of the transports as they were preparing for lift off. The guards returned fire at the rebels taking out a few, but their positions were smoked out by RPG fire and soon they were gunned down. The transports left the dock and began to make their way into space. One of them was shot down as it left the port by a Hunter Missile Launcher.

The remaining three transports attempted to make their escape towards the UHFS Capitol Colony, but were met with resistance. Rebel mobile suits ambushed them. One of the transports was shot down in the initial offensive. A Murasame aboard the downed craft took to the air, and the rest of the mobile suit security force took on the responsibility of making sure they got to their destination safely. The Zakus and the Murasames exchanged fire while the transports got to safety. Out of the several hundred staff members in the UHFS December City Central Office, only a handful survived the attack.

This scene was all to common throughout the UHFS, the people on Earth rallied together and brought the fight to the hundreds of UHFS campuses spread throughout the planet. The original 12 PLANTs and other colonies burned as the flames of chaos raged on. The only place left untouched was the UHFS HQ on Aprilius and the UHFS Sanctuary Colony where those who survived the initial attacks fled. Now on the brink of collapse, the UHFS had two fronts to defend. They had to defend their assets at home, but at the same time they worried about the imminent threat of the Grey Matter closing in on the solar system once more.

The military bases were suddenly running on full capacity. They provided aid to survivors of the initial attacks. Tacticians and generals formed their plans of attack on the rebels, now known as the Black Flag. They soon realized that it would become a harder battle to fight than anything they've ever fought before, because the enemy wasn't just another nation they could pinpoint on the map like past wars. It was a group of people, albeit very small, that first managed to crack they system and then set fire to the civilian unrest. The Black Flag(BF) intermixed their numbers among the general population and became leaders among small groups of insurgents and gave them the means to fight back. Soon they were recognized by the underground of the UHFS.

They all agreed that the BF was a serious threat, but didn't want to implement the necessary means to counter their advances on the UHFS. At first, they thought the best idea was to employ some form of martial law to keep the colonies in check. It was against the philosophy that the republic was built on, some said and others agreed, so the idea was tossed out the window. Day in and day out the military leaders and politicians discussed possible solutions, and day in and day out, the BF grew stronger. Gathering more support as victory after victory flew their way thanks the power of their intelligence unit.

On the political front, the speakers of the UHFS Council went to their respective nations and tried to dissuade their people from joining the BF's forces. These cries only escalated the violence throughout the world. The poorest sections of Earth like Africa and the Middle East joined forces with the BF as they promised a brighter hope for them. Soon the poorest and uneducated classes of each nation in the UHFS rallied with the BF under the clause of a "Future without hunger and despair." Everyday the situation looked grimmer for the UHFS as the BF's numbers increased.

Thanks to the abilities of their team of hacking specialists, the BF managed to obtain tons of information on troop movement and other intelligence necessities. They began their preparations for their final march to overthrow the UHFS. Their engineers worked on their trump card to defeat the UHFS's remaining military forces.

"Gara, Fareed step forward," the big boss said. He handed them the keys to a door. "The door to a new future is now opened, and you two will pave the way for it. Step forward and fulfill the role that Apollo Raynorth could not. Avenge your brother's death with your new found strength." The two young men nodded and proceeded to the hangar door. They inserted the keys into the slot and turned them simultaneously. The hangar opened and light filtered through as the door crept open. Before them they saw what appeared to be two mobile suits. "Standing before you are replicas of the Legend Gundam and the Chaos Gundam, first manufactured during the Second Valentine war, they are now yours. Lead us to the future you desire. I'll have our engineers on standby if you want to change anything."

"Yes Big Boss," they replied. They saluted the man in the big, black trenchcoat, as he left.

"Out of the chaos we will arise as victors, leading the world toward a new age," Big Boss said, "we have the chaos part down, but now its up to you to make us the victors." He stuck a cigarette between his lips and held it there as he lit it. The embers glowed to life as the smoke arose, dissipating into the atmosphere.


	18. Shirou Yamato (UC)

Shirou stared out into the heavens above, he wasn't alone because by his side he had his buddy Apollo with him. They did this kind of stuff all the time, staying out late, getting into trouble, fighting each other in the mobile suits. It had become routine, but this night was different, the stars shined brightly and a meteor shower passed over. Streaks of light illuminated the sky and it amazed Shirou.

"Aren't the stars pretty," Apollo whispered.

"Apollo," Shirou said, "one day we'll touch those stars." He looked at Apollo as he was expecting an answer.

"Yeah," Apollo replied, "I promise we will." He continued to stare out into the night sky. The meteor shower continued and Shirou imagined the future. He and Apollo would be flying together in space and fight each other on the grandest stage. They would entertain the entire world one day with their brilliant display. In his heart, he knew that one day that would be true. They'd both be in their own mobile suits, and their battle would astound the world.

The summer dragged on, and he Apollo grew into two capable pilots, many people, including guys from the military came out to watch them fly across the vast expanse of the ocean surrounding Onogoro Island. They'd spar and race around trying to see what else they could do, soon the military guys began joining in as a way to train in a very carefree way. The officers from the defense force were strong, and Shirou and Apollo grew as pilots as they kept battling against them. Shirou and Apollo went to that same hill at the end of the summer and looked out into the sky, the stars shined brightly as always.

"School is starting soon, Apollo," Shirou stated rather bluntly.

"I know, " he replied.

"We're going into high school, Apollo, aren't you at least a bit scared."

"No, I'm not because I got you by my side and you have me," Apollo told him, "and as long as I'm there you'll be alright." He got up and held his hand out to Shirou, "come on let's go." Shirou grabbed his hand and remembered the warmth from it. He was absolutely sure, confident that with Apollo they could do anything, be anything they wanted to be.

However a rift grew between Apollo and Shirou after Apollo's father died later that year. They began seeing each other less and less as they grew into their teenage years and before long Shirou stopped seeing him altogether. Shirou received many accolades from ORB's military as he grew closer to them and went on to study at the UHFS Military Academy, departing from his home in Onogoro and going to North America to finish his studies and training.

The physical training was grueling and his studies were just as hard. Everyday they'd run, climb, shoot and fight, and every evening would be spent studying everything from Battle tactics, Algebra, English, and Literature. He had many friends while he was there like Crow and Atlas, but no one like Apollo, who'd sneak out late at night to watch a meteor shower. No one that he could really talk about everything with, dreams and aspirations like Apollo. But Crow and Atlas stuck with him, without them Shirou felt like he would have failed out of the academy long before they graduated.

During his time, in the academy he met Reina Kimura. She was one year his senior. Shirou first met her in the cafeteria after he lost a battle sim to some of her classmates. When she walked in, Shirou was attracted to her beauty. However at first, she came off very abrasive in contrast to her good looks, but Shirou realized it was all with good intentions because her advice allowed him to beat her classmates repeatedly. They continued spending time and talking to each other throughout the remainder of her time in the academy. They became really good friends during that time and as the days at the academy passed, Shirou looked forward to seeing her. Atlas and Crow thought that Shirou had a crush on her, and he admitted that he did, but he wanted to focus on his studies and let her focus on her studies too. He later attended her graduation ceremony and wished her luck as she went off to serve the UHFS on active duty.

A year later, after the entire process, he graduated with Atlas and Crow at the age of 19. Then he was assigned to serve with them the Eternal. Meeting the Mobile Suit Piloting elite like Shinonome Sayaka, Zachariah Zala, and the Captain Joash Connor who'd served in the past as an elite mobile suit pilot. Also serving as the mobile suit elite on the Eternal was Reina Kimura. He was excited at first that they'd continue where they left off.

But then he found his long lost childhood friend...

Aboard the Eternal he finally is reunited with Apollo only to find out he was a criminal. That the reason why they split up was that he went off and helped the Black Flag rise to power in exchange for money. Albeit, the money went to his heartbroken mother, Shirou realized that his friend did some bad things during his time. That maybe he had changed because of his time with them. But Shirou forgave his sins, he was just glad they were finally together again.

Apollo fulfilled the promise he made all those years ago and battled Shirou. It ended in a draw, but Shirou felt like he had won knowing that they finally got to fight in space like he had always imagined. Then, suddenly he ripped apart from him. Realizing that everything was crashing down upon them, Apollo made the ultimate sacrifice to protect those aboard the Eternal. Shirou realized Apollo hadn't changed, he was the same good kid he knew back when they were kids. His service with the Black Flag somehow made him stronger in heart that no number of years in the academy could've trained him to be. Apollo jumped into the darkness of the void and created a way for the Eternal to escape, but in doing so he lost his life. Shirou distraught at first had no time to think about it as he was soon called to duty to fight against an unknown enemy.

He, Crow, Atlas, Reina, and Shinonome flew out to defend the battered Eternal from this enemy. In doing so, Shirou received his first taste of war, and it disgusted him. Despite overpowering his enemies, he knew that at the receiving end of his sword was another life. But that wasn't the end of it. An enemy unleashed its deadly arsenal of funnels instantly killing Crow and his comrades. Unable to do anything about it he continued on fighting for him, but then the enemy received additional reinforcements from a Crimson one-eyed mobile suit unlike anything he'd ever seen before. It was quick and decisive in its movements and strategy. Before long Atlas died trying to fight the crimson mobile suit and Shirou would've died then too if it wasn't for Zachriah Zala and Shinonome Sayaka coming to his aid.

He watched Zachariah from the window inside the briefing room aboard the Eternal. But he couldn't focus as his mind went elsewhere. At that moment he realized that Atlas, Crow, Apollo, they were all gone. Soon the battle between Zachariah and the crimson mobile suit ended, Zachariah sustained major injuries and the Eternal all of a sudden felt a lot more empty. 20 people out of the 600 aboard the Eternal died between the time the Eternal left Armory One and the time they first received communications from the Nahel Argama. Shirou had no idea what to feel, the images of their deaths filled his head and he couldn't do anything about it. The hours that passed felt like days as he wrapped his head around the traumatic stress he felt.

Shirou stood on one of the observation decks and looked outside. He saw the many stars out there and clutched his fists, holding back the tears. He remembered the times he spent with Atlas, Crow, and Apollo and wished he could keep doing it again. The battles on Onogoro Island, the training at the Academy, and looking out into the heavens with his best friend. Then he felt a warm hand touch his back. Shirou looked and saw Reina looking back at him.

"Why does it have to be like this," Shirou said, "first, Apollo, then Atlas, Crow, Daniel..." He was interrupted by Reina. Who had happened to join him on the observation deck.

"I know, I know, we all lost our friends out there, " Reina assured him, "we just have to be strong for those we still have left." Shirou felt so swayed by her words, that he fell into her arms and cried into her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him and held him closer. He felt the warmth and embraced it. "Apollo, told me when we first met that as long as he was there we'd be alright," Reina said looking into his reddened eyes, "now I'll tell you as long as I'm here that maybe things won't be great, but at least you'll have a shoulder to cry on."

Shirou looked at her and saw her tears flowing and rested his head on her shoulder. He rested his head on her shoulder, and she leaned her head on his. The warmth he felt reminded him of the last time he talked to Apollo before that fateful summer ended. He felt confident and got past his fears an doubts, instead of being reminded of his friends' deaths he treasured the beautiful moment with the one that was still alive. She ran her hands through his hair as he calmed down. Shirou looked up to her and saw her face and realized something."Reina, you mean the world to me," he said out loud. Reina was shocked.

"I love you, Reina," Shirou stated while he wiped the tears off his face. Knowing he said this at probably the worst time, he went with it knowing that if tomorrow he died he would've died with regrets as well as knowing that if tomorrow she died he would have to live out the rest of his life with that pain of never confessing his love to her. "Reina, I love you," he said while putting his hand on her shoulder and looking into her eyes. "Reina, I love you," he said for a third time as he laid his forehead on hers and brushed aside her hair. "How many times, do I have to..."

Then all the world stood still, Shirou lost the ability to speak, but he felt pure bliss. Her lips interlocked with his own, and he let the moment happen. Shirou wrapped his arms around her and Reina placed hers behind his neck. They released for a moment and went back it again.

"Shirou," Reina said while catching her breath. She wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled and they held each other once more while looking at the stars, "Aren't they pretty, the stars?"

"Well Apollo, we did it, now we're touching them," Shirou thought to himself ."Ah, Reina, hoshi ga kirei da (The stars are pretty, Reina)," he told her. He looked at Reina and smiled. Shirou placed his hand in hers and they held hands for the first time.


	19. Apollo Zala 7 (00)

Apollo stared up at the ceiling of the Ptolemaios, they spent a lot of time in space and in the low gravity environment, but hadn't been down to Earth. He walked around his living quarters on the Ptolemaios and realized he had nothing better to do so he went over to the bridge to see what was going on. "Oi Captain Sumeragi, what are we doing," Apollo said as he got on the bridge and took a seat behind her. Captain Sumeragi Kari Morales, the grand daughter of Sumeragi Lee Noriega, took on her grandmother's maiden name as a code name when she joined Celestial Being. Unlike her grandmother who was a great tactician and strategist, she is much more well studied in the operations of the ship and acts more along the lines of instinct and reacting to situations as they come. She leaves a lot of the foresight to battle plans to Tieria who is just as experienced now in battle tactics as her grandmother was.

Kari shares a lot of her grandmother's looks. Long brown hair but prefers to have it down instead of curled, slightly large bust, and hour glass figure. While on the bridge she wears a white space suit like the rest of the crew, but anywhere else she wears a set of white pants, a green v-cut blouse with a black loose fitting undershirt beneath. She has on her right hand a pair of gold bracelets that were from her mother.

"Hi, Apollo," Sumeragi said happily, "we're planning on going back down to Earth soon, just get ready for the descent."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, "why were we in space for so long?"

"We had to wait for our contact on the ground to be ready, " she replied, "we're selecting the final pilot to join our squad of Gundam Meisters, and there are a lot more applicants this time around. So while the guys on the ground were busy sorting them out, we waited up here."

"I see, but why did we have to wait up here," Apollo asked, "can't we just go down to Earth freely."

"Well its not that simple," Sumeragi stated, "we currently aren't on great terms with the governments of Earth. Celestial Being has been known to defy the government especially when it comes to protecting humanity from itself."

"What do you mean?" As Apollo asked this Mileina conveniently came aboard the bridge only to find Apollo already there talking to Sumeragi. She picked up on the gist of the conversation and began explaining to Apollo why they have to take extra precautions when approaching Earth.

"Apollo," Mileina said, "whatever happened out there, how you came here and what your suit is powered by, the governments of Earth are after. You see you suit is somehow linked to a near catastrophic event that occurred a couple months ago."

"What," Apollo was confused. He continued listening to what Mileina had to say.

"Two months ago a breach in space-time opened up outside of Earth's orbit. This was the first observable event of its kind in history and us like many others were interested in the inner workings of it and wanted to do research on it. All the scientists from Earth gathered there carefully observed the event, and then you and your mobile suit popped out of the event horizon. You were immediately rescued by Setsuna and the 00, but Apollo, you managed to do the impossible, and we think your mobile suit has something to do with it."

"The Gundam Parallel? What about it?"

"We think that somehow the event we saw that day was linked to your mobile suit because your suit is powered by the same space-time event that brought you here. The wormhole core is more than just an artificial black hole generator. That kind of technology is still miles ahead of what we can pull out here, but to create a traversable wormhole inside a suit that is outrageous. In short we think that your mobile suit has the ability to travel on another plane of existence."

"Can you put this in simple terms, Mileina," Apollo said.

"At its maximum power output, the Gundam Parallel Omega has the ability to travel between your world and ours. With this power, it is possible that we might be able to get you back."

"Well then, let's do this, I need to get back as soon as I can."

"That's the thing, Apollo, we need more power," Mileina replied, "in order to achieve that level of energy we need more than just the Original GN Drives we have on the Ptolemaios, and we don't have a way to produce more."

"Well give me an estimate on how many we'd need," Apollo said inquisitively. He was curious about the power source of the GN Drives.

"To create the rift that brought you to our world we'll need the power of several GN Drives working in perfect synchronization.A rough estimate would put us around four. We currently only have 5 Original Drives but those aren't enough, two that power the 00-Qan(T) Exia, one for the Zabanya, one for the Ptolemaios, and another for the Raphael. But we need those to power those suits, so those are off the table."

"Good how do we get them?"

Sumeragi butted in, "we have to take materials from each of the respective nations of Earth: The AEU, The Union, and the HRL, in order to get their GN Drives. Though we have the ability to produce additional GN Drives aboard the Ptolemaios we need access to their materials which are currently in their hands. We also have other business to attend to with the ESF that we need your help in resolving. "

"The three nations already figured this out, so they've buffered up their defenses to make sure we can't get close. But currently what they don't know is the current power of our team and with your Omega Gundam we should have the strength to break past them," Mileina added, "also another objective for them is to capture your suit and dissect it and reverse engineer it, so we are currently a target for the entire world."

"Once we head to Earth, our operations will begin," Sumeragi added, "will you help us."

"It's not like you have a choice, young man," Mileina said starkly, "you're with us to the end by default. So what is your choice, are you willing to fight to get home or not." Apollo nodded and awaited for further instruction.

"You are now officially a member of Celestial Being, Apollo," Sumeragi stated, "We'll be departing tomorrow and heading towards Union territory. Meet up with Tieria in the briefing room, he'll fill you in on our current plans."

"Yes ma'am," Apollo saluted. He departed from the bridge and headed toward the briefing room aboard the Ptolemaios. In the room was Setsuna and Tieria patiently waiting for his arrival. Tieria was dressed in a purple Celestial Being uniform which was a purple coat with a corresponding button-up shirt beneath it on top of a white pair of pants. The shirt was purple from the chest up with a aquamarine diamond shape on the center and the rest was white. Setsuna wore a similar uniform but with the purple parts of it replaced with blue.

"Apollo," Tieria said in an authoritative tone, "here is your new uniform." Tieria walked over to the other side of the room to a box and picked it up. He walked back and handed the box to Apollo. Inside the box was an orange colored version of the same uniform, Apollo walked out briefly and replaced his ZAFT Elite Uniform with his new outfit. He looked at himself briefly in the mirror, he realized he hadn't cut his hair in a very long time and now his bangs covered his left eye. It didn't bother him too much, and he preferred the new look. Apollo walked back into the room with the new orange uniform on.

Tieria was impressed, he shared a lot in common with the former pilot that wore that suit. Apollo was slightly shorter than Hallelujah, but they shared a lot of the same features, brown eyes with long hair covering one, a thin but toned body, and a sort of aura of cockiness intermixed with a level of deadly skill to back it up. Tieria snapped out of his slight flash back of when Lockon, Setsuna, Hallelujah, and himself worked together. "Are you alright, Tieria," Apollo asked.

"Yes I'm fine," Tieria said as he adjusted his glasses, "We'll be covering today our plans on getting to Earth. Thanks to Mileina's help and the technology aboard the Omega Gundam, we replicated what is called in Apollo's universe a 'Mirage Colloid' system which is frankly the most advanced stealth system we've seen to date. It will mask our presence to sensors and to the eye. With that in place the Ptolemaios will be able to go where it needs to be without being seen. In the case that our presence is discovered, the three of us will deploy to counter whatever the Union has in store for us. Understood."

"Yes, we got it," Apollo affirmed, "but why are we going to the Union first."

"Because we will be picking up our fourth member of our mobile suit team from there," Tieria replied, "he's an expert marksman and is a perfect fit for what we need on the team."

"What's his name," Apollo inquired.

"Kira Yamato," Tieria replied, "he's a Japanese immigrant to the Union but is renowned for his skill with the rifle." Apollo's jaw dropped.

"Kira Yamato..." The name went through his head then he realized who he was. Kira was Shirou's great-grandfather that died during the 3rd Valentine War. His mind was absolutely blown, but he tried to keep it to himself.


	20. Kira Yamato (00)

"All hands prepare for take-off, Setsuna, Tieria, Apollo, go to your Mobile suits and prepare for whatever may happen."

"Already there, Sumeragi-san," Tieria replied, "Setsuna, Apollo are you locked in."

"Setsuna F. Seiei, 00 Gundam Qan(T) Exia, prepared for launch," Setsuna said over the comm-link.

"Apollo Zala, Omega Gundam, set to go," Apollo added subsequently.

"Ptolemaios 2 Kai is set to go, GN Field On, Mirage Colloid On," Gray Feldt stated, "GN Thrusters at 60%. All Systems reporting clear. Heading into the atmosphere." The ship descended to Earth in a cloud of GN Particles acting as a pseudo-heatshield to prevent the ship from experiencing too much friction while re-entering. The Mirage Colloid system did its work and made sure that the ship remained hidden from sensory systems. The ship rattled as it descended. Everyone was held in suspense as they approached Earth, waiting for the inevitable response from Earths' military units.

"No troop movements in response," Serah Zellott added, "We're in the clear. Setting a course for Union territory."

"Thank god, " Sumeragi sighed. After about two weeks of preparation the hardest part was finally over, and all they had to do was pick up their man. Serah, Gray, and Sumeragi got up from their chairs and removed their space suits. Grey Dylandy the grandson of Feldt Grace, took over her spot on the Ptolemaios as a navigator and engineer. He has messy, dark red hair and gray eyes. He wore a gray version of the Celestial Being uniform that had the sleeves cut since the uniform barely fit him because of his bulkier, muscular build. Serah on the other hand was the sweetheart girl aboard the bridge serving as the Ptolemaios's gunner. Serah Zellot wore a yellow coat Celestial Being uniform with a pink shirt beneath and it blended well with her ginger hair and light skin.

The daylight filtered through the windows of the Ptolemaios as they made their way toward Union territory. They passed over the great prairies of the midwest, over the Rockie Mountains and made their way towards the Pacific Coast after a few hours of flying. The Ptolemaios made its way into a hangar nested in the hills of Northern California, undetected by Union security measures thanks to the effectiveness of the Mirage Colloid system. The team aboard the Ptolemaios hopped off the ship and made their way to land. For most of them it was the first time off the ship in nearly six months of being nested in their orbit around Earth. "Ah it feels good to be back on the ground," Serah exclaimed. She stretched her arms out and was dressed in shorts and summer gear as if she was planning on hitting the beach. "What is this..." she said as the wind blew across her bare skin.

"This is Northern California, Serah," Tieria said while adjusting his glasses, "the climate around here is generally much colder than most of California, holding around 50-70 degrees most of the year, its also fairly windy so it gets colder. I suggest you change into more suitable dress." The winds blew over the redwood and evergreen filled landscape, rustling through the trees. Apollo having lived on Onogoro most of his life, was amazed by the vast forest. It stretched out for miles around with no end in sight. He changed into some casual wear that was his size, putting on a dark red shirt, black pants, and a white and gray jacket. Tieria had on a purple wind breaker with a pink shirt beneath and khaki pants. Setsuna wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a yellow patterned shirt and a blue jacket.

"Tieria, Apollo, let's go," Setsuna said as he hopped in the truck, the three of them boarded and headed off. While the rest of the team went off hiking around the hills and doing routine maintenance on the Ptolemaios with the squad on the ground, Setsuna, Apollo, and Tieria made their way down into the valley and out to the coastline to the place Kira supposedly lived. Time flew by as they drove through the dimly lit and treacherous roads of the mountains. The sun was beginning to set and the valley grew darker and darker. Their progress once it became completely pitch black slowed tremendously, but they continued forward into the darkness. They followed a river that flowed through the valley all the way out to the coast and upon the arrival on the coastline, they a small house built next to a lighthouse that overlooked the sea.

The three of them stepped out and looked around. They walked up to the house and waited. The house's lights were dimly lit and the lighthouse spun around illuminating the dark world as the light passed. Then they heard a voice coming from inside the house, "Kira, who are they," she asked.

"I've been expecting them, let them in," another voice said. They heard footsteps plodding towards the door, and then the door opened. Before them stood a girl with long pink hair with a golden hair clip in it. She wore similarly pink night robes that seemed very comfortable and had a smile just as soothing.

"Please come in," she greeted. The three of them walked in and took a look at the house. It was quaint to say the least, a simple one bedroom, one bathroom house with a fire place and a couple of computers and monitors for whatever work they did. On the floor tending to the fire and watching the pot of boiling soup sat a young man with messy black hair, perched on his shoulder was a mechanical bird exactly like the one Apollo gave to Reina. "Birdy, Birdy," the bird chirped. The young man turned around and he got to see him face to face.

"Good evening you three, my name is Kira Yamato, but I guess you should've already known that," he smiled, "you've already met my wife."

The woman smiled, "its a pleasure to meet you all, my name is Lacus, Lacus Clyne," she said but then realized that she messed up and used her maiden name. "Lacus Yamato," she corrected; she blushed a bit. Apollo's mind was being blown as he was meeting two historical figures for the first time. He hid his excitement to make sure that he didn't scare anyone with his excitement. "You may have a seat the table, we were just about to eat supper." The three of them helped set the table for dinner while Kira finished preparing the stew. Eventually all of them sat together at the table.

"Well its an honor meeting you all," Kira toasted to them, "I wish that everything will go well between us." He held his canteen up and placed it back down on the table, everyone followed and did the same with their glasses. They passed the pot around and poured out a helping of the stew. The aroma of a variety of herbs filled the air as the stew was being passed around. It was the first time Apollo had a home cooked meal in many years it seemed. Most of his time was spent with the boys at the Black Flag barracks, and they almost never cooked meals like this. Apollo took a spoonful of the soup and it lit up his taste buds. The combination of the carrots, potatoes, and the meat was absolutely heavenly.

"This is good," Apollo said to Kira and Lacus, "really good." He took in another spoonful and savored the flavors.

"Thank you," Lacus replied, "I don't recall getting any of your names."

"I'm Apollo," he replied, "thanks for the meal." Apollo smiled brightly as he feasted on the stew.

"I'm Tieria," Tieria added, "and this is Setsuna." Setsuna only looked up and nodded. He continued to eat in silence. Tieria continued, "may I ask what's in the stew?"

"Carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, salt, pepper, deer, and a mix of herbs and spices," Kira replied, "hunting deer was the easier part, I can't imagine tending to the garden everyday like Lacus does to have the potatoes, tomatoes and carrots ready." Kira smiled at Lacus, and she smiled back. Apollo found it really cute how nice of a couple they were. It was almost too surreal how cute they were.

"So, Kira are you packed and ready to go," Tieria asked as he took a bite of the meat. He looked at Kira and expected an answer. The rain began to fall and a sudden storm picked up. The waves crashed against the shoreline and the wind howled against the sides of the house.

"Well I am ready to go, but I don't think the storm will let us," Kira replied, "we'll have to wait it out." Kira got up and peeked out the window, he couldn't see anything outside of a few feet from the window. "Yeah, I don't think we'll be able to make the trip up the mountain, you should probably tell your crew that we'll be late." Tieria picked up his satellite transmitter and began sending messages to the Ptolemaios.

"Already on it," Tieria informed. As Tieria spent his time contacting the Ptolemaios, Kira sat back down at the table and continued eating. Once they were all finished, Apollo and Setsuna collected the dishes and helped Lacus and Kira clean up the dining area. The work went by really quickly with all of them working together. Afterwards, Lacus grabbed some extra blankets and pillows and set up a place for the three to sleep in the living room by the fireplace. The storm continued to rage on and rain battered the roof and windows of the house.

"Good night," Lacus wished. She retired to the master bedroom with Kira and slept by his side. Setsuna and Tieria fell asleep quickly leaving Apollo by himself. The wind and the rain kept him up and he couldn't stay focused. Far from his family aboard the Eternal, the thoughts about their faith left him unsettled. He placed his arm over his face as he tried to rest. He eventually fell asleep.

Later that night, Apollo heard footsteps, he woke up suddenly and found Setsuna and Tieria still asleep. By that time the storm passed and everything was completely still. The fresh sea air filled his lungs and reminded him of his home on Onogoro. He noticed that the door outside was left slightly open. Apollo got his stuff together, put his shoes on and headed outside. He could feel the dew on the tall grass brush against skin as he walked around. Barely seeing anything in the dark until the light of the lighthouse passed over once every few seconds. He looked up at the top lighthouse and saw a figure being illuminated by the balcony whenever the light passed over it. Apollo walked up to the lighthouse and went up the steps to the top.

There he found Kira with a cup of tea in his hand. He was dressed in a light jacket and his pajama pants. "Aren't you cold," Apollo asked as he walked up to him. Kira turned around astonished that his exit from the house wasn't stealthy enough.

"Hardly," Kira replied, "compared to some of the other places I've served the Union , this is a walk in the park." He took a sip of tea and looked out across the sea.

"What are you doing out here," Apollo asked. He was curious as to why he would be out in the cold during this time of the night.

"It's just a habit, I guess," Kira said, "I'm pretty excited, to tell you the truth, I couldn't get much sleep." Kira took another of the tea and laid back against the railing of the lighthouse balcony, the light passed over them another time.

"I see, so what did you do before this?"

"I was an overwatch for Union troops stationed in South America, we were up in the Andes on my second tour. We thought the ESF and the Union was committed to non-combat, but there were locals there that weren't really compliant," Kira recalled, "I sat up in the mountains with my GN XIV - Frostbite-C the barrel aimed down into the valley to watch for enemy mobile suit movement just in case the people did happen to have them. While the rest of my crew went down and took care of the business." Apollo listened intently, he was always interested in war stories like this because he heard them all the time growing up in the Black Flag unit. "I zoomed in on my scope and saw them, my own men shooting civilians, it horrified me at first, but I tried to keep calm. I thought maybe they were enemies of the state they were uprooting, but then one of them pulled a gun on a family and killed them in cold blood. It wasn't some isolated incident either, our mobile suits mowed down building after building, our troops set up firing squads and killed hundreds of the locals every minute. That was the last string, I told myself. I aimed my rifle and pulled the trigger and took down our own mobile suits then proceeded to turn my gun against my own men. I killed every single one of them." Kira stopped and took another sip of his tea, his face showed how he felt. He hated the fact that he had to kill his own comrades, but he had to do it or else more innocents would die.

Apollo was disheartened, "that's awful." Apollo never saw anything like that happen under the UHFS rule, but it was still bad on Earth. Most of the nations were in turmoil after the formation of the UHFS because the wars devastated the population of the Earth and left everyone in shambles.

"Anyways, afterwards, they convicted me of the murders and treason but had no substantial evidence, so instead of sentencing me to death, I was dishonorably discharged and told to never speak of what happened that day. Now, a year or so displaced from that incident, I'm here. Apparently, the Union isn't the only one doing this to underdeveloped nations, the HRL and the AEU are covering up similar injustices for unknown reasons. Celestial Being figured out my situation and they contacted me, and I gladly accepted their invitation," Kira confided in Apollo, "I'll fight these injustices for as long as I live." Apollo looked at him and was proud. This world's Kira may be different than the Kira that lived in his world, but he was still just as noble. The sun began to rise over the hills and the sunlight shined over the vast ocean in front of them. They turned around and saw the chimney of the house began to smoke, "well it was nice conversing with you, Apollo, I look forward to working with you."

"Same," Apollo replied. Kira headed down the steps of the lighthouse and went to the house. He greeted Lacus at the door with a kiss and went inside. Apollo stayed out there a bit longer to look at the ocean and reminisce about his time at Onogoro. The view reminded him how awfully he missed the island nation and he felt a bit homesick. Eventually, Apollo headed down the lighthouse to find Setsuna and Tieria up as well. Everyone was getting ready for the day and Lacus was preparing breakfast. The four of them sat down and quickly ate. Kira packed his things into the truck and said goodbye to Lacus one last time. He kissed her on the forehead and held her close one last time and took off with Tieria, Setsuna, and Apollo.

The ride back up to the Ptolemaios didn't take nearly as long as the ride down the valley, and once they reached the hangar, they were greeted by the crew of the Ptolemaios with big smiles. They were all worried about them as the storm that passed over was pretty big, but they all smiled and joined together aboard the ship. Kira was given his new Celestial Being uniform which was a green version of it. The crew of the Ptolemaios cheered welcoming their newest member and celebrated aboard the ship.

Home seemed closer than ever.


	21. Char's Counter Attack 3 (UC)

Shirou, Reina, Shinonome, Banagher, and Riddhe wait in the Eternal's briefing room for orders from the Captain. Shirou, now wearing a red ZAFT Elite uniform, anxiously taps the floor with his foot. He was cast with the responsibility of taking Zachariah's place on the battlefield, and after his impressive performance in the last battle against the Sinanju, being able to halt his advance long enough for Zachariah and Shinonome to do their work was incredible for a rookie pilot. Riddhe patiently waited for further instruction, but Banagher had his hands on some of the research material aboard the Eternal and was looking through all the schematics of the robotics aboard the ship. He became thoroughly engrossed with the technology of the world from which the Eternal came.

The Captain walked in with a holo-tablet in hand. The group saluted, and Banagher quickly put aside the tablet and stood at attention. "As you all may know now, we are working with Londo Bell and the Federation to put an end to the Sleeves. The Sleeves are a militant group that represents the newest iteration of what you guys call Neo-Zeon, they are dangerous and will do anything it takes to win. Specifically, their goal is to take the NT-D Unicorn Gundam that is aboard the Nahel Argama. It has some form of technology that synchronizes with the powers of Newtypes. I couldn't care less about what Newtypes are but they share a lot in common with people that are born with the SEED Factor."

"So what sets Newtypes apart from us Coordinators," Shinonome asked.

"Newtypes, unlike Coordinators, have the ability to use their minds to use the systems on their mobile suits, making them deadly in combat as they are vastly more spacially aware. They also handle systems like funnels and bits much more easily because they can use their mind to move them. Newtypes are also capable of some form of precognition by sensing the emotional states of their targets. Coordinators with SEED factor function similarly, but their abilities vastly affect the physical aspects of flying in space. The SEED factor amplifies one's spacial awareness, but it also overclocks the mind's information processing to a degree in which according to studies feels like the world moves slowly thus vastly increasing the pilot's reaction speed from .1 seconds to less than .01 seconds." The captain cleared his throat and continued. He motioned from his holo-tablet an image of a fortress built into an asteroid.

"What is that," Shirou asked. He scratched his head a bit and put his hand back on his side.

"This fortress is known as Palau, it is one of the centers of operation for the Sleeves and Neo-Zeon. Our plan is to resupply our mobile suit stock with an ECOAS fleet that will assist us in taking down this floating fortress. Our plan currently is to use the Hyper-Mega Particle Cannon armed on the Nahel Argama to break through the fortress's defenses and then send in the Mirage Frame and the Gundam Alpha armed with METEOR units to break down the rest of their forces. While, Londo Bell and their troops can push into the colony and take it. Should this offensive prove successful, it will deal a serious blow to the Sleeves's military power and bring us closer to defeating them. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Shirou replied, "what about the Sinanju and the Four-winged unit." Those two mobile suits alone dealt a huge blow to their mobile force and left an impression of being nearly unbeatable when working in tandem.

"Shirou, you will be in charge taking on the Sinanju or the Four Winged one if either of them come out..."

"Captain, we have heat signatures incoming," said a voice over the Captain's commlink, "It's the Sinanju and a couple other mobile suits."

"Alert the Nahel Argama and scramble our mobile suits," the Captain replied, "how did they respond so quickly, I thought we had a couple days to plan out this attack. Fire off missiles and CIWS to halt their advance."

"Captain what about us," Shinonome asked, "can we sortie?"

"The Mirage Frame, White Frame, and Gundam Alpha are still in bad shape, Shinonome you'll have to go out in the Blue Frame. Banagher and Riddhe, we have the Delta and Unicorn stored on our ship, get them set on the catapult and ready up."

"Yes, sir," they replied. Shinonome, Banagher, and Riddhe walked out of the briefing room and headed to their mobile suits in the hangar. On the way they put on their flight suits, and grabbed their gear. Shinonome and Riddhe immediately boarded theirs and launched off the catapult, but Banagher waited in front of the cockpit of the Unicorn. He hesitated because he hated flying in it, he knew the consequences of whatever actions he took in the suit, and they could lead to the deaths of others. Banagher placed his helmet on and readied up on the Unicorn and waited for the flight director to clear him for launch. Nina went up to Banagher, "Banagher, I have orders from Captain Mitas, he wants you to stay inside the Unicorn but not to launch until given further instruction."

"Understood," Banagher replied. He sat in the cockpit of the Unicorn and waited. He contemplated whether or not he should launch but was tied to Mitas' instruction.

Aboard the Nahel Argama, Captain Mitas took charge of the situation, they began firing off their anti-air armaments in cooperation with the Eternal. The Sinanju was quick and adept at dodging their attacks. It flew through the debris field they were nested in with ease and used the terrain to dodge the anti-air fire of the Eternal and Nahel Argama. In the distance, a trio of Gearas lead by a purple unit, piloted by Frontal's right hand man Angelo, watched as Frontal did his work in the Sinanju, surprisingly he was flying well despite his disability. The medical staff aboard the Rewloola gave him prosthetic hands that could be controlled via psycommu, giving them almost the same feeling as normal hands, "Time to test the abilities of the Gundams," Frontal said to himself.

The Nahel Argama launched its arsenal of Deltas and Jegans to go into combat against the Sinanju. Led by Commander Norm, they stormed out of the hangar bay one by one. Unfortunately, the Sinanju got a lock on one of the Jegans as it left the hangar and fired his Beam Rifle. The Jegan with its core damaged, exploded the launch pad of the Nahel Argama, damaging the ship's port side in the resulting fallout. Riddhe and Shinonome rallied with Commander Norm's mobile suit team as they attempted to take on the Red Comet, as the crew aboard the Nahel Argama called the Sinanju.

The Sinanju flew around the mobile suit team taking down one mobile suit after another with its pinpoint beam rifle shots. Shinome shifted the Tactical Arms system on the Blue Frame into flight mode and burst into action. She pulled out her beam saber and dived forward into the Sinanju. Frontal preoccupied with taking out the other Federation forces dodged her attack and kicked her aside. He attempted to shoot her down with well placed beam rifle shots to the cockpit of the Blue Frame but Shinonome reacted quickly and deflected them with the Beam Shield Generator.

Riddhe then took the flight to the Sinanju, switching his Delta into fighter mode and firing several beams in rapid succession. Frontal's battle instincts alerted him of the attack and he strafed past the beams. Commander Norm followed up with his comrade with an attack from the beam saber mounted to his Delta, but the responded in kind with his own beam saber, parrying the attack and slicing through arm of Norm's Delta. Norm backed off and switched off with the Blue Frame. Shinonome changed the Tactical Arms into Sword Mode. She charged forward and swung down at the Sinanju. The Sinanju blocked the attack with its shield and tried swinging back at the the unguarded Blue Frame with its beam saber.

Riddhe jumped at the right moment and came down with a slash from his beam saber. Frontal took notice of Riddhe's re-entrance into combat and used his beam saber to block Riddhe's attack. Now cornered by the the Blue Frame and Riddhe's Delta, Commander Norm went in for the kill raising his Beam Rifle to take down the Sinanju. Frontal, in response, detached the Sinanju from the pincer that the Blue Frame and the Delta caught him in. The stray beam hit Riddhe's Delta in the leg forcing him to back out of the fight. The Sinanju soared past Riddhe and Shinonome to deal with Commander Norm. Norm pulled out his Beam Saber and fought the Sinanju. He tried attacking with an overhead strike, but the Sinanju caught the hand of the Delta and crushed it, destroying the beam saber. Frontal lifted up his Beam Rifle and placed it against Norm's cockpit. The Sinanju emptied two shots into the cockpit of the Delta and flew off, the Delta exploded killing Commander Norm. With the pesky commander out of the way, Frontal turned his efforts towards Shinonome's Blue Frame.

"I remember you from the last time our forces met, Blue Gundam. That is one big sword that you have," Frontal noted, "it must be heavy." Frontal readied his beam saber and charged towards Shinonome. She blocked the initial attack with the Tactical Arm's sword, but the Sinanju immediately followed up with another much quicker attack with its beam saber. The saber cut through the left arm of the Blue Frame, and then the Sinanju flew past it and rotated around, arming its beam rifle. With a couple well placed shots, the Sinanju took out the Blue Frame's propulsion system and the main camera, leaving it helpless. The Sinanju continued it's assault on the Nahel Argama and the Eternal, sweeping through the skies and taking down the anti-air guns and missiles that were firing at it. Once Frontal was finished he stopped and left the Sinanju afloat between the two ships.

"I could end both of your ships now," Frontal stated over the communications network, "but I won't, because you have something important that we need. The key to Laplace's box. Give us the Unicorn and everyone will be spared."

Aboard the Nahel Argama, Daguza from the ECOAS task force assigned to the Nahel Argama, stepped up with a microphone in hand. "I believe you aren't in the position to make deals, Frontal," Daguza replied, "aboard the Nahel Argama we are holding the Princess of Zeon, Mineva Lao Zabi. If you do not surrender we will shoot her." In his arms was a young, blonde woman named Audrey Burne who claimed and probably was Princess Mineva. He held a gun to her head in an attempt to make the situation seem more realistic.

"I'd believe you, but I'm not entirely sure if you are holding the Princess captive or not," Frontal added, "this deal cannot be concluded with unknown factors, therefore my original decision stands, give us the Key To Laplace's box or I will sink the Nahel Argama and your new found ally. You have five minutes to decide or I will..." He was interrupted by a different voice coming over the microphone it was that of a young woman. Audrey turned her head to face Daguza eye to eye. She grabbed the microphone and spoke.

"I am Mineva Lao Zabi, Princess of Zeon, and if you are Char as many claim you are, then you would have no qualms shooting us down right now as you would be the next heir to the throne of Zeon," she paused, "but you aren't, which means that in the back of your mind that you have some doubts yourself. Now, back off."

"Mineva, obtaining Laplace's box is placed much higher on our priorities than your safety, and if I have to shoot down every Federation ship in the fleet, then that is what I'll do, I'm giving you five minutes to surrender the Unicorn and that is it." The communications line went quiet.

"Damn it Frontal, Captain what is our plan," Daguza asked. He looked at Captain Mitas and the Captain replied, "we will continue to fight, we cannot surrender the key no matter the cost." Everyone acknowledged him with the exception of Alberto, a rotund man who was in charge of securing Laplace's box as to make sure it would never be opened. Although no one aboard the Nahel Argama liked him, he usually had the final say in what was to be done aboard when it came to finding the box.

"I say we should surrender the Unicorn to them, the Unicorn is only the key, but they still need to find the box itself, if we live another day we can take it back," Alberto exclaimed. No one agreed with his idea because they were all ready to sacrifice their own lives for the Federation before they would so easily surrender the key to Laplace's box. Then the communications network came alive and the message came from the Unicorn.

"I will fight him," Banagher said, "I may be able to buy us enough time to escape." Alberto's face lit up as he realized that the boy was willing to go along with his plan. Realizing that the fate of the crew rested in Banagher's hands, Captain Mitas left him to make the decision. "If it means that Audrey, Micott, and everyone aboard the Nahel Argama and the Eternal will live, then I will fight." Mitas nodded and motioned to alert the Eternal's staff to send off the Unicorn, as the preparations were being made, the communications line with Frontal came on.

"I see you haven't made a decision, now I will sink the Nahel Argama," The Sinanju came to life and resumed its assault of the two ships. Beam Rifle shots rattled the hull of the Nahel Argama and the Eternal as the Sinanju flew around destroying them both piece by piece. Then flying out of the hangar of the Eternal was the Gundam Unicorn, "so that's where it was, Gundam Unicorn."

"Banagher Links, Gundam Unicorn, Engaging the Enemy," Banagher stated over the comm-link. The Unicorn roared past Riddhe's crippled Delta and Shinonome's Blue Frame and went toe to toe with the Sinanju. He pulled out the Unicorn's Beam Magnum and tried to get a lock on the Sinanju when he managed to get a lock on the Sinanju he fired. After a short delay, a dark purple beam flew across the heavens destroying all the debris in its way and made its way towards the Sinanju. Frontal tried to dodge the attack but was clipped by the wide beam. Frontal was at first surprised by the output of the weapon, but he figured out the width of the beam and adjusted.

Banagher continued to fire away at the Sinanju and seemingly forced the Sinanju back as it flew around trying to dodge the beams. One of the Unicorn's stray shots nailed one of the idle Geara's in the chest causing it to explode, Angelo cried as his comrade went down, and cursed the Unicorn hoping that Frontal would shoot it down. The Sinanju flew behind a large piece of debris as Banagher managed to get a lock onto it. Banagher pulled the trigger firing the last shot of the Beam Magnum at the debris; the debris exploded and Banagher thought he had won.

All of a sudden, the Sinanju's face blocked out his main camera, Banagher threw out a bunch of shots with his beam vulcans but to no effect as the armor of the Sinanju was a lot stronger than them. The Sinanju armed its beam saber, and struck down on the Gundam Unicorn, but Banagher managed to deflect the attack with its shield, in doing so lost the shield. "This is the end," Frontal said over the microphone. Banagher thought it was the end, but he came to his senses when he remembered he still had the power of the Gundam. The NT-D system activated.

As the Sinanju charged forward and thrust its beam saber forward, the Gundam Unicorn flipped over it, evading the attack. The frame of the Gundam Unicorn opened up revealing a glowing red under-armor woven throughout the mobile suit and the crown of the Gundam hidden beneath the unicorn horn. Inside the cockpit of the Unicorn, several tubes hooked into Banagher's helmet and the pilot seat changed as he began to assume control over every part of the Unicorn with his mind. "So this is the key to Laplace," Frontal said to himself in awe of the Unicorn's transformation. Frontal resumed his attack with the Sinanju, he felt some pain in his wrists as he hadn't allowed the prosthetic hands to settle in before launching in the Sinanju. However the adrenaline rush of being pushed to his limits exhilarated him as the Unicorn and the Sinanju exchanged blows.

The Sinanju first began its offensive at close range, but he realized that his attacks became to repetitive so he switched his tactics and tried to approach the fight from afar. He backed off from the Unicorn and pulled out his beam rifle. The Sinanju locked onto the Unicorn and fired at one of its unprotected spots. The shot dissipated as it was intercepted by an invisible force field. "An I-field," Frontal exclaimed. He fired a few more shots from the Sinanju's rifle but they were deflected easily with the power of the I-Field. Banagher reloaded the beam magnum and continued his attacks with it. Forcing the Sinanju back on its heels. Frontal realizing that it is possible that the Sinanju might not be enough to take down the Unicorn in NT-D mode began to make other plans to capture it. Frontal continued to dodge the Unicorns blasts, but he was realizing that as the battle drew on, Banagher was learning and growing as a pilot and subsequently the deadly shots were closing in on him.

The Sinanju began to leave the battle area and the Unicorn pursued him. The Eternal and the Nahel Argama made their escape during the fight, and Captain Mitas tried to recall Banagher, but the NT-D system prevented Banagher from responding. The Unicorn began to catch up to the Sinanju thanks to its incredible speed and agility, but by then Banagher was already caught in Frontal's trap. In the shadows, the Garenceries waited with the Kshatriya-Repair ready to launch. When the Unicorn strayed too far from the Nahel Argama and the Eternal, Frontal called in Marida and the Kshatriya and the two of them worked together to capture the Unicorn.

The Sinanju drew the Unicorn's fire as the Kshatriya locked him down. The Kshatriya's strength proved to be overwhelming for the Unicorn, and Marida managed to subdue Banagher without breaking much of a sweat. Banagher fainted as a result of using the NT-D system for too long. This gave Frontal a chance to bring in the Unicorn without any resistance, and he returned to the Rewloola with the Unicorn in tow.

"Laplace's Key is secured," Frontal stated over the communications line. The crew of the Rewloola cheered as Frontal returned to the ship with his prize in hand. Singlehandedly, Full Frontal brought them victory and that was a major boost in morale for the Sleeves.


	22. Might of The Impulse (SEED)

Aboard the Archangel Mikael, Captain Wengfang was trying to plan out their defense of the Santuary with the rest of the fleet that was stationed there. The Black Flag was going to bring as much of their firepower to the next fight to try and overthrow the Federation once and for all and it was rumored that they even had very cutting edge mobile suits in their arsenal. Out of the fleet at the Sanctuary, the most advanced mobile suit was the Strike Impulse Gundam, but Shinji Asuka alone couldn't fight an army no matter how strong of a pilot or how strong his mobile suit was. Meanwhile, Shinji sat in the mess hall on the Archangel, waiting for orders from the bridge to sortie. He had barely gotten any sleep since he had been on standby over the last day or so. His normally well kept hair had become ragged and the whites of his eyes matched the red color of his irises. He began to doze off as he ate dinner and decided it was necessary for him to go to bed.

Shinji walked over to his quarters, opened the door, and sunk into his bed. His roommate was already fast asleep and everyone was pretty worn out after the long shifts of keeping a steady watch over the skies. After a good rest, Shinji got up and headed over to the simulator and began practicing mock battles. The simulation was a scene from the Second Valentine War, a battle in space against a very large enemy force. Bringing the Impulse Gundam into combat since it was the closest unit to his Strike Impulse Gundam, he went against a very large force of Blue Cosmos units defending their super weapon, the Requiem. He flew around the skies seeking and destroying mobile suits and interchanging through various Sihouettes in order to meet his needs on the battlefield. When going against large groups of units he used the Blast Impulse to mow them down with the long range cannons. Against stronger mobile armor, he switched out to the Sword Impulse in order to get past their much stronger shielding capabilities. In one on one combat, the Force Impulse proved to be a considerably strong unit because of the suit's balance between offense and defense.

Shinji went at the simulator for hours, setting the enemies to aggro onto the allied fleet and the colony and recreating, to the best of his ability, the possible scenarios on the future battlefield that he'd probably face. The scenario was nearly impossible to try and clear successfully with minimum casualties. In several, of the simulations he was shot down because of the sheer number mobile units he would have to face. The task of fighting an entire army seemed impossible, but Shinji kept working at it, as the simulations grew on him, he became more adept at killing off enemies in multitudes. Once he mastered one difficulty level, he moved on to the next, spending hours on end overcoming all odds and gaining a complete mastery over the Impulse System. He aspired to be like his great-grandfather, Shinn Asuka, who was one of the most deadly pilots in ZAFT during his time and the first pilot of the Impulse Gundam.

Three weeks passed since Shinji first hopped into the simulator training. The crew began to worry about him because he barely ever left the room, only exiting the battle sim to go to the restroom or to eat. Shinji even slept in there as to make sure he could maximize his hours piloting the Impulse on the sim. The captain grew weary of Shinji's antics and decided to go over to the Simulation Training room to pull him off himself. When he opened the door to the room, he was hit with the unbearable stench of Shinji's body odor, but he went through it in order to talk to him. What he saw shocked him, other than the fact Shinji had managed to grow a decent beard during that time, he saw his work in the Impulse Gundam. On the big screen that displayed the mock battle, Captain Wengfang saw Shinji flying around in the Impulse knocking down hundreds of enemies at the time. They were all set to the highest difficulty, and he had no allies other than the Archangel supplying the Strike Packages and refueling with the Deuterion Beam.

"My god, Shinji," the Captain murmured, "what kind of monster have you become." Shinji hadn't even noticed his presence, all he did was count up. Wengfang hear him start at 9,800 and he kept counting up from there. "You've downed 9,800 mobile suits total," the Captain inquired those were already impressive statistics for anyone using the simulation room like he was.

"No, Captain," Shinji replied his eyes were still glued to the screen, "just in this mock battle. I've downed maybe 100,000 to 200,000 suits from when I started. Including mobile armors and ships, I have 140 - 240,000 enemies slain."

"Why the hell are you doing this, Shinji," the Captain paused the simulation and Shinji turned his attention away from the screen and towards him.

"At first, I was only training on the sim to practice going against a large horde enemies," Shinji said solemnly, "but then it became a quest to conquer my own boundaries, my grandfather, Shinn Asuka, told me a story about an enemy that he had to defeat. This enemy was undoubtedly one of the strongest he'd ever faced, and it seemed impossible to beat him. But he trained, hours on end, sacrificing sleep, nutrition, and time with the rest of the crew in order to overcome this enemy. Then the time came when that enemy came to face him again on the battlefield. While that enemy had only faced him twice before that fateful battle, my grandfather, Shinn, fought him hundreds maybe even thousands of times. The result, my grandfather obliterated him, he knew his enemy and read him like a book while his enemy barely knew him. I intend on doing the same here."

"But this is insane," the Captain exclaimed, "Shinji, report to your quarters, I need you to be completely ready for the next battle, and not fooling around here in the simulation room." Shinji saluted and drifted out of the Simulation room. The Captain walked up to the computer that kept track of all the simulation records and went to Shinji's logs. Wengfang realized that Shinji had been understating the amount of work he put into winning the next battle. "524,915 mobile suits downed. 100,501 mobile armors downed. 20,000 ships sunk." The Captain looked out the door to see Shinji hopping down the hallway towards him room. "Is it even possible to come up with these numbers, he broke every single simulation record to date." The Captain went though his battle data, and Shinji in the Impulse Gundam managed to turned around many historic battles of the 2nd and 3rd Valentine war, fighting often on the losing side of the battle and by himself turning those defeats into victories.

Shinji sunk into his bed for the first time in days. After cleaning up, he found himself at peace, but he didn't let the captain's orders stop him from training. In his head, Shinji kept running through all the scenarios and kept flying the Impulse. His determination to overcome his own limits crept into his thoughts throughout the entire day, and even haunted him in his sleep. There was always some way to improve, and he kept driving himself to become better.

In the ruins of the old Requiem Base on the moon, the Black Flag gathered all their military units to prepare for the final push into the Sanctuary. The Big Boss heralded it as one of the largest invasions to date. Hundreds of thousands of new recruits marched throughout the base, and mobile suits, armors and ships flew in as the Black Flag prepared to wage war on the last colony held by the UHFS. A large rally was held in the halls of the Requiem Base as the many Black Flag combatants gathered together. Standing at the top of a catwalk was the Big Boss and he was guarded by Fareed and Gara.

"TODAY, WE FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE THAT WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM US," the Big Boss exclaimed, "TODAY, WE FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM TO LIVE OUR LIVES THE WAY WE WANT!" The crowd threw themselves into an uproar, chanting "Black Flag" and shooting off several thousand rounds from their guns into the air. Mobile suit crews began loading into whatever suits they had, ranging from ZAFT Zakus, Goufs, and Doms to EA Windams and Murasames. Several engineers went underway to prepare Gara and Fareed's mobile suits to be fit for launch as soon as they could. Fareed's Legend Gundam was outfitted to be a close range combat unit, replacing the beam funnels with sword funnels. Gara's Chaos Gundam was refurbished to handle the use of much more powerful beam weapons with a new core installed and with replacements of the much older funnel system with a new set of weapons and an extra set of funnels.

Their ships launched from the surface of the moon and made their way to the "Sanctuary" colony. Their flagship, Baron Quinn, a red and black Minerva-class battleship, lead the charge towards the Sanctuary.

"Heat signatures approaching the Sanctuary, Captain," one of the officers called, "it's Black Flag's fleet." The Captain took a deep breath and began giving orders. The Archangel roared into action, heading to the front to face off against their enemy.

"All hands to battle stations, this is not a drill," the Captain ordered, "Ready the Lohnegrin III, Raidens, CIWS, Galiants, and load Guardians in the missile chambers." The Mikael's guns began to rotate towards the direction of the Black Flag force. "Wait for my signal to fire," the Captain said before pausing. There was a silence that settled over the bridge as they saw thousands of lights from mobile suits and armors begin to depart from the ships of the Black Flag. The thought that this might be their last fight dawned over them.

In the hangar, Shinji hopped into the cockpit of the Core Splendor, "I'll be launching now, let the Captain know," he told the engineer, "send me out with the Blast Package."

"Yes, sir," the engineer replied. He sent an arm signal to the flight director, and he cleared the Strike Impulse to launch.

"Shinji Asuka, Core Splendor, Launching," the core fighter's engines lit up, and it flew off the platform. Following it were the subsequent, leg, armor, and tactical package parts. Outside of the Archangel, the Strike Impulse underwent its conversion sequence. The Core Splendor folded into a small pod to house the leg and armor parts. Lasers guided the legs and armor into place and there was an electronic hiss as the drills locked them into place. Another set of lasers guided the Blast Strike Package onto the Strike Impulse, this time the Blast Strike Package had replaced its missile chambers with another set of positron cannons.

"Why is Shinji launching now, Captain, they are still too far out," one of the officers exclaimed furiously because of Shinji's lack of discipline.

"Let him do what he does, follow his instructions precisely. If we are going to make it out of this alive, it will be on him," the Captain replied.

"Fire a set of Guardians to my location," Shinji ordered. The gunner, unsure about his decision reluctantly fired them off. Two pairs of missiles flew out of the launch chambers and locked onto the Strike Impulse. They broke apart and launched bits that generated a large Beam Shield, "On my mark send me a new package, make sure each package is loaded with an extra battery, Shinji out." The comms went silent as they watched Shinji in the distance, the first set of enemies began to surround him, but Shinji, undisturbed by their presence, began to take care of them. He saw a group of Zakus and a group of Goufs on his left and right trying to flank him. Pulling out his long range beam cannons, he mowed them down as they tried to get past the shield. A group got past the shield by going over it but, Shinji was well aware of their plan and fired the set of cannons on his back upwards, instantly destroying that group of enemies.

The situation seemed more precarious as the numbers kept pouring onto him, but Shinji remained calm, emptying cannon blast after cannon blast into the enemy's front line. In the distance, the crew of the Mikael saw beams of red and yellow fly across the sky and following them were a series of explosions from the mobile suits coming apart. Shinji fell back behind the guardian shield, and called for another strike package, specifically Force Package. The Mikael sent one towards him and it replaced the Blast Package he started out with. He flew through the horde of enemy mobile suits, shooting through as many of them as he could as he flew past.

As he approached one of the Nazca-class battleships, the captain of it began to panic and ordered his crew to begin firing off anti-air armories. However, the Force Strike Impulse proved to be a hardy opponent as its shield prevented a lot of damage as it flew towards the bridge of the battleship. A group of Black Flag Murasames turned their attention toward him and switched into Fighter Mode. Shinji sensed their presence and flipped the Force Strike Impulse to meet them. He threw a Beam Boomerang which cut through the cockpits of all the Murasames as it made its way around. With the Murasame guard detail down, Shinji flew up to the bridge of the battleship and fired a couple of rounds into it, instantly killing everyone inside. With a few more shots to vital spots, the battleship went down and the Strike Impulse departed.

"A mobile suit unit has managed to break through our front line," one of the officers aboard the Minerva called out. The Big Boss seemed interested.

"Send Gara and Fareed out to deal with him and tell our ships to begin firing, destroy the enemy ships, but primarily focus on the Sanctuary," the Big Boss commanded, "prioritize mobile suit movement to defending our ships, I want to make sure that they are defended properly."

"Yes sir," the crew replied. They began issuing orders to their respective departments and throughout the Black Flag's fleet. Their ships began to fire at the UHFS fleet. Bursts of red and yellow filled the battlefield as beams flew across from one end of the battlefield to the other. Then, Captain Wengfang and the rest of the UHFS fleet gave the orders to their crew to commence firing. The Archangel and the rest of the fleet launched groups of "Guardian" Missiles to create a beam shield around the colony. The Beam Shield lit up creating an impenetrable wall of radiating light surrounding the colony. The fire from the BF's ships was deflected every time the beams struck the shield.

As the fighting drew closer to the line of defense set up by the UHFS, the UHFS Fleet began sending out their mobile suits. Groups of Windams and Murasames flew out of the flight chambers of the UHFS's ships and engaged in combat with the BF's forces. Green and pink beams flew all around the battlefield as the fighting escalated. The Strike Impulse fell back and assisted the Mobile Suit teams in pushing back the enemy force. Flying across the battlefield and targeting squadrons of BF mobile suits and destroying them swiftly. His aim was deadly accurate, firing at the cores of the Zakus and Goufs to make them explode and break enemy formations up into smaller and more manageable chunks.

"Deliver the Chaos Strike Package," Shinji called out over the communications. The Archangel immediately launched a fighter carrying the Chaos Package. The Chaos package was based off of the Chaos Gundam used by Phantom Pain in the 2nd Valentine War. It carried a pair of weapon pods that could be detached and used like funnels. The weapon pods carried a set of Beam Cannons and missiles designed for mobile suit versus mobile suit combat. The Chaos Package also gave the suit a distinct edge in space combat because it increased the Impulse's mobility and speed in a zero gravity environment with its improved propulsion system.

The Chaos Package was laser guided onto the Impulse, replacing the Force Package. Once it was secure, Shinji jettisoned back into the fray. Detaching his weapon pods to let them fly on their own and flying through the front. The weapon pods locked onto enemies and took them out with their variety of weapons loaded onto them. Meanwhile Shinji looked for large groups of enemies and locked on with his the Beam Cannon mounted on the backpack of the Chaos Strike Impulse. When he got a lock, the Beam Cannon fired, lighting up the emptiness of space with a sudden flash of green light followed by the explosions of several enemy mobile suits that were caught in the blast. When an enemy managed to get close enough to challenge the Chaos Strike Impulse, they were met with extreme force as the Chaos Strike Impulse is mounted with a set of Beam Claws that extend from its two mounted shields.

"There he is," one of the BF MS commanders called out from his GOUF, he and his team managed to find the Impulse in the middle of the battlefield, "get him before he kills anymore of our men." His group began to surround the Chaos Strike Impulse and they threw out their whips, locking down the Gundam. Shinji though this was the end as he braced himself for his inevitable death. The one thing he forgot about the simulations is that there were too many factors to account for on the battlefield, especially experience and mental toughness. Letting his guard down for one second cost him his life. "FOR THE PRESERVATION OF OUR GLORIOUS FUTURE," the MS commander cried as he raised his Beam Rifle. The rifle barrel began to glow as the shot charged up, but then a green light descended upon the MS commander's GOUF instantly destroying it. Shinji looked above him to see a golden mobile suit take to the skies.

"The Akatsuki," Shinji said to himself surprised by the sudden change, "Guile-sama, what are you doing?"

"I'm protecting the dream that my grandmother set in motion all those years ago," Guile replied. The Shiranui Akatsuki let its DRAGOONs fly about the battlefield, locking onto enemy mobile suits and incapacitating them. Beams of green light flew everywhere as the DRAGOONs did their work on the enemy mobile suits. A stray energy blast from a BF Battleship headed toward the Akatsuki but it was deflected by the Beam Shield that was created by the Akatsuki's DRAGOONs. Now freed from the grasp of the BF's GOUF units, the Strike Impulse Gundam made its way deeper into the enemy territory. As the Impulse made its way into the back lines, the BF's ships and mobile suits fell before it. Shinji managed to rack up hundreds of confirmed kills and many more unconfirmed as he tore through the battlefield. After taking out many enemies, the BF units on the battlefield feared him and began to back off from areas where it was confirmed to see the Strike Impulse.

Aboard the Baron Quinn, Gara was sitting at the launch pad with his Chaos Gundam Mk II. "Gara Hiragaya, Chaos Gundam Mk III, Launching," the Chaos Gundam launched from the platform of the Baron Quinn. He headed toward the location of the Strike Impulse with great speed. This version of the Chaos Gundam unlike the Chaos Package that Shinji was using on the Strike Impulse, was somehow improved to have extremely powerful propulsor systems. Shinji's instincts kicked in as he felt the Chaos Gundam reach his location.

Then after a few seconds, the two met face to face. Shinji stared down at his doppleganger, "so I see the Big Boss sent his personal guard dogs to finally deal with me." He called in his weapon pods and trained them onto the Chaos Gundam, "I'll make sure to leave your lifeless mobile suit with a reminder for your guys to not mess with us."

Gara looked up and replied, "Same," as he armed his Beam Rifle and his four weapon pods and aimed them at the Strike Impulse.


	23. Pack of Wolves (SEED)

Gara and Shinji engaged in a duel amidst the chaos of the Battle of the Sanctuary. Gara's mobile suit, the Chaos Gundam Mk III initially took the advantage because Shinji was, at first, unable to cope with fighting against DRAGOON type funnel weapons like the Weapon Pods mounted on the Chaos Gundam. The two mobile suits tried to get a lock on the other but to no affect. They were somehow in a stalemate as they danced around each other. The two pilots were capable of dancing around each others independent weapon systems, while not being able to focus entirely on defeating their opposition. Beams and missiles flew around them as the Weapon Pods from both Chaos Strike Impulse and the Chaos Gundam unloaded their arsenal on each other.

Gara pulled out his Beam Rifle and fired off a few shots. His accuracy was pinpoint, but Shinji shrugged of the shots with the Beam Shields mounted on the Chaos Strike Impulse's wrists. "Send me the Force Package and a new set of arms," Shinji called out over the communications. The officer on deck alerted the Engineering bay, but they were unable to comply with his request because they were still fixing it from his last run. "Send me the Sword Package then," he replied, "I need something else to fight him with other than the Chaos Package."

"Sword Package out," the engineers replied. The armor flew across the battlefield and made its way to Shinji. The Sword Package was guided into place and replaced the Chaos Package. The VPS Armor transformed from a forest green to red as it adjusted with the settings of the Sword Package. Shinji activated the Anti-ship sword and it buzzed to life. Gara hesitated for a bit, sort of in awe, as he saw the machine change shape right in front of him. However, Shinji was no stranger to the system and immediately resumed his attack upon switching, pulling out a Beam Boomerang and throwing at the Chaos. Gara deflected the Beam Boomerang with his shield, but the Sword Strike Impulse was not finished, using the Boomerang as a decoy he charged forward into the Chaos Gundam attacking it with the sword.

Aboard the Baron Quinn, Fareed prepared the Excalibur Gundam, a custom built remake of the Legend Gundam designed with more focus on close range combat. The DRAGOON pods on the Legend were remade to be able to fire beams, but to also support the use of independently moving beam boomerangs on them. In addition to the "Dragoon" system, the Excalibur Gundam also carries a high energy beam rifle, a set of beam swords, a shield generator, and its namesake the "Excalibur" sword. The Excalibur conjoins two Anti-Ship Beam Swords together to create a European Long Sword-esque weapon capable of crushing any enemy defense instantly.

Fareed boarded the Excalibur and the lights in the cabin lit up. It was outfitted with a panoramic seat to give the pilot a realistic display on how the Dragoon system worked. The panoramic cabin allowed him to see all around the hangar, Fareed was a bit phased at first by seemingly being left in suspension but the fear passed over him quickly. As the monitors went from red to green, clearing him for launch, Fareed leaned forward a bit to make himself feel a bit more comfortable in the seat. Fareed declared, "Fareed Al-Shaara, Excalibur Gundam, launching." The Excalibur Gundam's propulsors lit up as it was launched off the catapult of the Baron Quinn. It soared off to rally with his ally that was dueling it out with the Sword Strike Impulse. Following him was a back of gray and black Zaku-type units that followed Fareed's every move as he ran around the battlefield. The pack of "Wolves" left a trail of destruction as they ran through UHFS Mobile Suits that pushed into the Black Flag's line.

"Do you think he'll be alright captain," one of the officers asked the Big Boss, "Gara is even struggling with that transforming mobile suit out there." The officer looked genuinely worried for them but the Big Boss showed only confidence in his two most trust lieutenants.

"Those two are the product of a harsh world that fighter in the transforming mobile suit will never understand," the Big Boss replied, "Gara and Fareed are tough like the rest of my young and valiant soldiers. Their strength doesn't come from any one of them but all of them working together to take down even the most menacing prey. That's how they have operated since Black Flag started employing their help. Now they have more resolve to come out victorious in this battle than every before."

"How so?" The officer was curious, he'd only ever flown around in the Baron Quinn and didn't understand the Big Boss's attachment to the Child Soldiers.

"They want blood, the UHFS took from them the life of their longtime brother in arms, Apollo Raynorth, and now they're taking it." Outside, the Wolves ran around the battlefield with Fareed's Excalibur Gundam. When they came across a group of UHFS mobile suits, one would split off and grab the group's attention while the others would go around and destroy them with a volley of Beam Rifle fire. Fareed's Excalibur tore through the UHFS's line as it released a flurry of attacks all at once with its "Dragoon" units. After taking out a few groups of UHFS units they turned their attention to Shinji and the Strike Impulse.

Gara had been fighting valiantly against Shinji, but Shinji was very familiar with Gara's battle tactics by that point. Shinji broke apart the Chaos Gundam piece by piece. He realized that the Chaos Gundam controlled by Gara was no different than the one he battled and destroyed many times in the simulation training, but Gara's Chaos Gundam proved to be a lot more resilient than the one from the simulator. Just as Shinji was about to deliver the finishing blow, another unit caught his attention as it fired a few beam rifle shots at him. It was a black and grey Zaku that was spraying shots from its beam rifle at him. Shinji evaded the beams and began to return fire with his Beam Rifle. However, a few more beams came his way from another unit painted the same color. Soon Shinji was surrounded by a group of Zaku-Wolves that were desperately trying to take him down.

Fareed soon arrived and helped the crippled Chaos Gundam back to the Baron Quinn. "Spread out and keep him down," Fareed ordered the Wolves, "the rest of our forces will be able to push into the Sanctuary." They all nodded in agreement and began taking turns wearing out the Strike Impulse, circling around Shinji and taking turns taking him on. Fareed joined in on the fight, lining up the Excalibur Gundam's funnels to lock onto him. They ignited with the light of a pink beam that extended from them. The funnels chased Shinji's Strike Impulse around the battlefield, targeting the cockpit primarily. Shinji shook off a couple of them, but took a hit from one that pierced through his shield.

Using the explosion of the shield, he escaped the array of funnels and beams chasing him down. Conveniently he received a message from the Archangel in the middle of the fight, "Shinji, the Force Package has been repaired and is ready for use." Shinji felt a sudden relief but still had to do something about the enemies chasing him around.

"I'm going to make a fly-by near the Archangel, send it to me when I get there. Cover my tail, I have another Gundam unit and several enemies on me," Shinji replied. He took off and began making his way to the Archangel. The pack of Zaku-Wolves and the Excalibur Gundam followed him. As they chased down Shinji, they engaged in small skirmishes with different UHFS mobile suit units on the way there. The UHFS troops valiantly tried to hold them off to prevent them, but to no avail as the Wolves and the Excalibur Gundam trashed their suits with ease.

Inside the bridge of the Archangel Mikael,"Captain Wengfang, I spotted the Strike Impulse, sending out the Force Package as ordered," one of the officers reported. He also noticed the several mobile suits following it. "Enemy units inbound," he called out.

Wengfang commanded, "Fire the CIWS and Missiles make sure they don't get close to the Mikael." The guns rotated and the missiles were launched. One of the Zaku-Wolves was caught in the initial barrage of defensive weaponry and was instantly incapacitated. Upon noticing this the rest of the units backed off and split apart going around the Archangel to try and flank it. UHFS mobile suits launching from the Archangel and nearby ships caught the wolves and began fighting them. The Strike Impulse retreated and detached the Sword Package. The Sword Package was replaced with the Force Package immediately. Supplied with a new shield and weapons the Strike Impulse made its way back out to the battlefield.

The Excalibur Gundam easily bypassed many of the defenses and lined up its next shot to take out the bridge of the Archangel Mikael. Then a rush of blue and white flew by as he pulled the trigger, the shots were deflected by the Force Strike Impulse's Shield. Launching a pair of boomerangs at the Excalibur Gundam, Shinji dived right into the Excalibur, blocking subsequent beam shots with his shield. He returned fire with his beam rifle, almost landing a few good shots on the Excalibur, but they were deflected by the Excalibur's Shield Generator. Shinji had predicted this and figured that as soon as the Shield was lowered the Boomerangs he launched would strike the Excalibur.

Just as planned, the Excalibur lowered the Beam Shields and the Boomerangs were about to fly right into it. Instead of cutting the Excalibur they were stopped by the bodies of two Wolves who managed to catch them before they struck the Excalibur. With his last breath, one of the Wolves cheered Fareed on, "go get him," he muttered, coughing up blood. The Boomerang struck the cockpit of his mobile suit, piercing through it and cutting right through him. Then, the Zaku-Wolves exploded instantly killing them. Fareed stepped back to avoid the explosions and tears filled his eyes as he remembered his them.

"You monster," Fareed cried, "I'll avenge them, Tommy, Dusty, Apollo." Suddenly, he felt like he was back in the desert, a flash back to another time in his life before he joined the Black Flag. His mother had just made fresh bread, and he smelled the aroma from his cockpit. Then he remembered the bitterness of that memory as he watched his home being blown into oblivion. The memory then shattered into a million pieces as he fell into the abyss. A single, beautifully lit, amber crystal stood there, and when he touched it, that too shattered into a million pieces. Then Fareed came back to his senses, he felt a sense of clarity and the world began to move slower. In response to the activation of Fareed's SEED Factor, the cockpit glowed and responded in kind. His eyes faded from a reflective yellow to a darker gold and the world began to slow down.

Shinji armed his beam saber and raised it above his head. Striking down on the Excalibur Gundam, he thought he could have ended the battle then and there, but the Excalibur dodged the attack. Fareed got a lock on the Strike Impulse and mounted an immensely powerful counter attack on the Strike Impulse. Beams flew everywhere as Fareed tried to lock Shinji down. However, Shinji had now gotten used to his tactics with the Dragoons and began dodging the spread of attacks coming from different directions. In the midst of the Dragoon attacks, Fareed didn't let himself sit back, now being able to have complete control of the Excalibur he took full use of aligning the attacks with the Dragoons and attacking with his mobile suit. Pulling out the Excalibur Sword, he closed the gap between himself and the Strike Impulse and swung at it.

Shinji became surprised and overwhelmed by the sudden change of attacks. Somehow, Shinji felt like he was now fighting an entirely different person. The Excalibur's slash sliced through the Force Impulse's shield with ease. Shinji swirled around the Excalibur to evade the attack and find an opening to thrust his beam saber. When he found it, Fareed had already reacted and faced his direction. Pulling out and arming his Beam Javelin, the Excalibur sliced off the arm of the Strike Impulse that was holding the beam saber. "How did he get so fast," Shinji said to himself. However the attack wasn't over, the Excalibur dashed toward the Strike Impulse and cut off its other arm with the Excalibur Sword and kicked it back. Shinji's cockpit rattled as the kick sent him flying out of control.

The Strike Impulse now helpless to block or evade the next attack, sat back, helpless as the Excalibur Gundam recalled its Dragoons. Now inside the back panel of the Excalibur Gundam, the Excalibur Gundam charged up its next attack. Shinji accepted his fate as he sat in his chair watching the beams energy being charged up inside the barrels of the Excalibur Gundam.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Captain Wengfang and the crew aboard the Archangel Mikael did their best to defend themselves from the overwhelming attack of the BF. The Big Boss aboard the Baron Quinn grinned as he saw on the monitor, the Excalibur executing the Strike Impulse. The Wolves defeated their UHFS opponents and rallied with the Excalibur and watched the Strike Impulse go down. The stage was set for a Black Flag victory, then a blinding light opened in the rift between the two warring sides. The appearance of an unknown ship covered in a flurry of an unknown type of particles emerged from it.

"DIE UHFS SCUM," Fareed yelled. He pulled the trigger and a concentrated spray of beams headed toward the Strike Impulse. Several Beams rushed toward the suit

"Trans-am, Time Alter, 75%," a familiar voice whispered. A blinding red mobile suit with red wings flew in front of the blast. The blinding speed was unrealistic, creating after images as it flew by, but that wasn't all. The mobile suit simultaneously raised its Beam Rifle and fired off several shots with pinpoint accuracy, reflecting the blasts fired from the Excalibur Gundam. The red coating faded, as the Trans-am system wore off. Revealing a Gundam-type mobile suit with wings that emitted red particles. The design, inherited from the Destiny Gundam was all too familiar to those who had seen the leaked information from the UHFS system hack that the Black Flag conducted.

"The Gundam Parallel," everyone exclaimed as they saw it rest on the battlefield. Apollo sat in his cockpit staring at the Excalibur, but something clicked inside and realized that it wasn't just an enemy unit but his old friend, Fareed Al-Shaara.


	24. Technical Manual (SEED)

_**Technical Chapter 2 (Blackhat was my first attempt at a technical chapter)**_

Hey Everyone,

If you made it this far, thank you for really investing your time into the story. Now here is my favorite part as nerd is explaining how everything works. Throughout the story there is a bunch of tech and terminology that is from the Gundam Universe that isn't necessarily from SEED. There is also custom mobile suits that are original creations that use base models from other mobile suits. So I'll dive right in and start taking inventory so you guys can get a better picture from the technical perspective.

 _ **Gundam SEED**_

 **ZGMF-X1995 Strike Impulse Gundam:**

 **Pilot:** Shinji Asuka

 **Arms:** CIWS, 2x Combat Knives, Impulse Package System (Force, Sword, Blast, Chaos, Abyss, Gaia)

 **Force Package** : Enhanced Beam Shield, Beam Rifle, 2x Beam Boomerangs, Combat Knives, 2x Beam Sabers

 **Sword Package:** Beam Shield, Beam Rifle, 2x Beam Sabers, 2x Beam Boomerangs, 2x Anti-Ship Swords

 **Blast Package:** Beam Shield, 2x Long Range Beam Cannons, 2x Positron Beam Cannons, 2x Missile Pods

 **Chaos Package:** 1x Mega Particle Cannon, 2x Weapon Pods (Beam/Missile Equipped), 2x Beam Shield Generators, 6x Beam claws (3 on each hand)

 **Abyss Package:** Beam Shield Generator, Dual Plasma Cannon, High-Speed Guided Torpedoes, Beam Lance, Triple Beam Cannon

 **Gaia Package:** 2x Beam Swords, 2x Cannon Swords, Quadripedal system, Beam Shield Generator

 **Lightning Package:** Electro-magnetic Long Range Rail Cannon, 2x Beam Saber, Beam Shield Generator

 **IWS Package:** 105mm Cannons, Beam Rifle, Beam Shield, Large Anti-ship Sword, Bazooka

 **Mobile Suit Description and History:** A futuristic remodel of the Impulse Gundam that combines the elements of Strike Gundam with it. The mobile shares an appearance similar to the Impulse Gundam. Capable of holding the original Impulse Gundam variants like the Force, Sword, and Blast Silhouettes from SEED Destiny. It also has the ability to carry the prototype variants for the Impulse and Strike Gundam mentioned in the series but never implemented like the Gaia, Chaos, Abyss, Lighting and IWS Silhouettes (Called packages in the SEED Parallel Story).

The mobile suit was first developed at the end of the 2nd Valentine war for Lunamaria Hawke to use. It survived throughout the years and stayed within the Asuka family. Whenever, someone from Shinn Asuka's family line went to fight in the military, they'd be granted the ability to use the Strike Impulse to use as their primary mobile suit. As the suit saw more use, different tactical package systems were implemented for it, so that its pilot could be able to tackle any situation at any time. Thus leading to the creation of the Chaos, Gaia, Abyss, IWS, and Lightning Packages for the Strike Impulse. Today, it has been passed into the hands of the very capable Shinji Asuka, a veteran mobile suit pilot who serves aboard the Archangel Mikael.

 **ORB 0003 Akatsuki Gundam:**

 **Pilot** : Guile Cagalli-Athha

 **Arms:** "Asura" Hybrid Rifle, 2x Beam Sabers, CIWS, Type 73 Beam Shield, Guided Mobile Turret System, "Yata-No-Kagami" Beam Deflection Coating

 **Mobile Suit History and Description:** Pretty much the same Akatsuki Gundam from Gundam SEED Destiny. A golden colored Gundam that shares a lot in common in appearance with the Strike Gundam. In the right hands can be one of the most deadly on the battlefield or at least the hardest to kill. Out of any mobile suit in the SEED Timeline the Akatsuki Gundam boasts the strongest defensive capabilities. The "Yata-no-Kagami" coating makes the suit impervious to most Beam Rifle Blasts. The Type 73 Beam Shield has the capability to withstand the blasts of most warship level cannons. The Guided Mobile Turret System is a set of "Dragoons" independent weapons that can attack enemies with a set of high energy beams on command. The Mobile turret system on the Akatsuki Gundam can also act as a support unit as it can create a wide stretching Beam Shield capable of withstanding most attacks. The "Asura" Hybrid Rifle can switch between being used as a Beam Rifle or a Beam Saber depending on what the pilot chooses.

The mainstay mobile suit defender of ORB. Living up to the ideals of ORB as a neutral nation that only wishes to live in harmony with the rest of the world, The Akatsuki Gundam comes equipped with much less offensive ability as it does defense. The one who pilots the suit must also follow ORB's ideals and as such, the suit never hit mass production for the ORB military out of fear that it would fall into the wrong hands. Instead the mobile suit was passed down through a democratic process of deciding who was the most worthy of wielding its power through voting amongst the high council of ORB. In CE 170, it has returned to the hands of an Athha family member, Guile Cagalli Athha. A former mobile suit pilot in the ORB military and now the head representative of the ORB Union in the UHFS Council. Guile leads ORB into a brighter tomorrow with the power of the Akatsuki Gundam.

 **BFD-01-01 Chaos Gundam Mk II:**

 **Pilot:** Gara Hiragaya

 **Arms:** 4x BFD-01 Mobile Weapon Pods, BFD-01 "Erdas" Rotating Beam Rifle, BFD-01 "Yggdrasil" Beam Saber, BFD-01 Beam Claws, CIWS, Beam Shield, BFD-01 "Callidus Kai II" Multi-Phase Beam Cannon

 **Mobile Suit History and Description** : Staying true for the most part to its original design in GSD, the Chaos Gundam Mk II is a custom model of the Chaos Gundam, retaining its forest green color and appearance. It is a Gundam model that is a very strong combatant in space. Relying on its 4 weapon pods equipped with Beam Cannons and Guided Missiles to take down enemy mobile suits and the multiphase beam cannon to take on battleships, it is a mobile suit that boasts strong offensive capabilities in exchange for very little defense.

A Gundam model first produced by ZAFT prior to the 2nd Valentine War and subsequently stolen by Logos's Phantom Pain special operations squad. It had its fair share of combat experience during the war. The original Chaos Gundam and its pilot Sting Oakley were shot down in the Battle of Berlin. The parts were salvaged by an anonymous Pirate Group that would play a big role in the foundation of the Black Flag. The parts were then reassembled and reverse engineered by the Pirate Group and the Black Flag, but funding for the Chaos Gundam project was always low so the re-creation of the Chaos Gundam was plagued with constant roadblocks. The Chaos Gundam Mk II would mark the first Gundam model created by Black Flag circa CE 170. It is piloted by Big Boss's lieutenant, Gara Hiragaya, one of Big Boss's trusted child soldier recruits along with Apollo Raynorth and Fareed Al-Shaara.

 **BFD-01-02 Excalibur Gundam**

 **Pilot:** Fareed Al-Shaara

 **Arms:** Excalibur Dragoon System (BFDW-A3 Beam Assault Weapon, BFDW-A1 Beam Assault Weapon, BFDW-C9 Sword Weapon), "Solidus Agra" Beam Shield, "Excalibur" Anti-ship Concentrated Laser Sword, High Energy Beam rifle

 **Mobile Suit History and Description** : The Excalibur Gundam is a custom built Gundam mobile suit based on the Legend Gundam. The Excalibur Gundam keeps the tradition of the Providence Gundam with is VPS armor taking on a metallic gray color throughout the mobile suit with only the chest armor changing color to a red and black color scheme. The primary weapons of this mobile suit are the Excalibur Dragoon mobile system and its namesake the "Excalibur" Anti-Ship Sword. The Dragoon system is capable of firing an array of multiple beams to attack enemies from several points, but also features a Dragoon Sword system that sends bladed Dragoon Turrets around the battlefield to cut enemies into bits. The "Excalibur" Anti-Ship Sword is among the strongest in its class being able to cut through the strongest of defenses with ease.

Hidden in the ruins of debris fields was a gem of old, the original Legend Gundam stood still amidst the whirling debris. On December 3, CE 168, a scavenging group found the Legend Gundam model and brought it to the Black Flag. Since that day, the Black Flag engineering group worked day and night to fix the Legend Gundam. A mobile suit during its time that was the pinnacle of technology, but it has been far surpassed by the mobile suits produced by the UHFS. Now in the Black Flag's hands and upgraded to match current standards for mobile suits, the Legend Gundam, dubbed the Excalibur Gundam, rests in the hands of Big Boss's lieutenant, Fareed Al-Shaara.

 _ **Gundam 00**_

 **GN/ELS 0000-00 Qan(T) Exia** :

 **Pilot:** Setsuna F. Seiei

 **Arms** : GN X R-Blade Kai, GN X Shield,2x GN V Large Blades, 2x GN V Blade Rifles, 4x Beam Sabers, 6x GN V Combat Knives, 8x GN V Sword Bits, GN Field, Trans-Am System, Trans-Am Burst System, ELS Recovery System

 **Mobile Suit History and Description** : A variant of the ELS Qan(T) that is seen at the end of the Awakening of the Trailblazer movie. A blue and white Gundam-type mobile suit with one shield on its right shoulder and several blades sticking out from it. With prioritization on close combat, the Qan(T) Exia carries an incredible number of blades to fuel this style of battle. Like all Celestial Being mobile suits it has the ability to use the Trans-am System, which maximizes the particle output and increases mobile suit performance dramatically. In addition, with the Qan(T) Exia being a double GN Drive powered mobile suit, it has the ability to use Trans-Am Burst, maximizing the output and synchronization rates of the two GN Drives and allowing the user to spontaneously Quantize (teleport) around the battlefield. Since the Qan(T) Exia is piloted by Setsuna F. Seiei and made the journey to the home world of the ELS, it shares a symbiotic relationship with the ELS as the particles feed the ELS energy and the ELS help repair the mobile suit when it suffers critical damage.

 **CB-0002 Raphael Gundam /CB-0010 Zabanya Gundam:**

 **Pilots:** Tieria Erde/Kira Yamato

 **Arms: Raphael Gundam** ( GN Bazooka, GN Beam Rifle, GN Field, Trans-Am, GN Big Cannons, GN Big Claws), **Zabanya Gundam** ( GN Holster Bit, GN Missiles, GN Rifle Bit II, GN Pistols, GN Field, Trans-am)

 **Mobile Suit History and Description:** The Raphael Gundam and the Zabanya Gundam are both the same mobile suits used in Awakening of the Trailblazer movie. The only change is the model number of the Zabanya Gundam to CB-0010 being the tenth mobile suit redesign in mind by the newest iteration of Celestial Being. To conserve resources, Celestial Being brought these mobile suits out of storage and just updated them with the most recent mobile suit tech, there wasn't really much to improve on outside of GN Drive Trans-am output because these two mobile suits were the standard holder for mobile suit technology for a long time, and still remain above the line in the events of SEED Parallel.

The Raphael Gundam has been given back to the Innovade that has always used it, Tieria Erde. The suit features incredible firepower and bunker busting ability. It excels at taking down a massive number of troops and armor in one or two shots. The Zabanya Gundam, originally piloted by Neil Dylandy, has been passed down to the Kira Yamato of the 00 timeline. Kira in this timeline, instead of attending a technical college, continued his studies at the military institutions and became a mobile suit specialist in sniping and marksmanship. His skillset was highly valued by Celestial Being, and after a long vetting process to decide the pilot of the Zabanya Gundam, it was decided that Kira would be the one to pilot it.

 **GN-X-1010 Frostbite-C**

 **Pilot** : Kira Yamato

 **Arms:** GN Sniper Rifle, GN Field, GN Pistols, Beam Saber

 **Mobile Suit History and Description:** An ESF specialist mobile suit based on the GN-IV C from Awakening of the Trailblazer. It is colored dark grey to blend in with its surroundings more easily but can change color to match with the terrain it is hiding in. The Frostbite uses a GN Sniper Rifle that can fire a penetrative long range beam to take down enemies.

Used primarily by Kira Yamato in his days before joining Celestial Being. Before he was discharged from the ESF military, Kira did patrols in South America using this mobile suit. Then subsequently used it to destroy his own mobile suit squadron after they began massacring innocents. It now rests in the confines of the UHFS armory waiting for the next pilot to take over it.

 **Mobile Suit Gundam UC**

 **NT-D 01 Gundam Unicorn**

 **Pilot:** Banagher Links

 **Arms:** Beam Magnum, I-Field Shield, 2x Beam Saber (arm-mounted), 2x Beam Saber II (backpack), NT-D Psycommu Frame System, Full Arms Weapon System

 **Mobile Suit Description and History:** The Unicorn in its base form is a simple looking white mobile suit with a long, unicorn-like horn. Upon activation of the NT-D System, the Unicorn transforms into Gundam mode, the iconic horn splits open revealing a golden crown, and the rest of the frame opens revealing a psycommu system built in throughout the mobile suit. This psycommu system allows any powerful Newtype to control the mobile suit with only his or her mind, almost acting like an extension of that Newtype's body. The Unicorn is equipped with all the latest Federation weaponry, especially the Full-Arms System which gives the Unicorn a wide array of weapons to use.

The Unicorn is a special mobile suit produced by Anaheim Electronics and was given to the Vist Foundation as a token of their cooperation. The Gundam Unicorn, also known as "The Key to Laplace's Box," is vital to the Vist Foundation's mission to keep the box hidden from both the Federation and other factions who seek its destruction, especially Neo-Zeon and "The Sleeves." It found its way into the hands of Banagher Links upon short reunion with his father Cardeas Vist, the head of the Vist Foundation at the time. It now serves Banagher in his quest to find "Laplace's Box" and why it is of such importance to both the Zeon remnants and the Earth Federation.

 **MSN-06S Sinanju:**

 **Pilot:** Full Frontal

 **Arms:** 60mm Vulcans, Beam Tonfa, Beam Saber, Beam Rifle, Shield, Beam Axe, Grenade Launcher, Rocket Bazooka

 **Mobile Suit History and Description:** The Sinanju is a crimson red mobile suit that is balanced in all forms of combat. It shares a lot in common with its Zeonic predecessor, the Sazabi, however doesn't support funnels. Instead, the psyco-frame cockpit enables a Newtype user, like Full Frontal, to interface directly with the pilot's mind. What it lacks in powerful arms, it makes up in combat ability. The suit despite its hulking size, is extremely agile and quick. This performance allows it to outmaneuver almost any suit that or mobile armor that crushes it in firepower. The more capable the pilot, the more this suit shines on the battlefield, and in the hands of Frontal, the Sinanju has more than a capable pilot to use it effectively.

Developed by Anaheim Electronics in UC 0096, the Sinanju was a base platform that was used to create the Gundam Unicorn. However, "The Sleeves," stole the incomplete mobile suit from Anaheim Electronics and gave it to their leader, Full Frontal. It has since been modified and complete by the remnants of Zeon and has found its use by the influential leader, Full Frontal. There is no one on the battlefield that can match him at his best when he pilots the Sinanju, and due to his awful similarity with Zeon's previous leader, Char, he has been called the infamous "Red Comet" by Earth Federation forces.


	25. Fareed Al-Shaara

_Hey Everyone,_

 _I know I just released another sort of author note-ish chapter previously, but I thought this was slightly necessary as to illustrate the path of where this story is going. I realized going through my outline for this story that in order to really flesh out everything that I have in store is going to require the content of another set of fictions. That being said, I'll continue releasing chapters for Gundam Seed Parallel, but in the Gundam 00 Fandom I'll also be planning out another work to narrate Apollo's time with Celestial Being, since that has effectively been skipped over in the chapter "Pack of Wolves." In the UC Fandom, will be another work detailing the Eternal's effect in the Gundam Unicorn story. Covering their efforts to find the Laplace's box (and more Reina X Shirou shipping 3). So just be on the look-out for those and I'll announce it in the future._

 _Anyways I hope you all had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year_

 _"Yo, Newbie, welcome aboard," Gara nodded. The small Japanese boy tossed him a loaf of bread, "here are your rations for the week, eat up, but don't eat too much." Gara wasn't really much of a sight to see, he was relatively short for his age, had messy black hair and wore a brown jacket around with the Black Flag emblem emblazoned on the back. He carried himself around like he was the boss, the Big Boss showed him and Gara the most favor and left them in command positions a lot of the time._

 _"Ok," Apollo replied. He'd been used to being hungry since his father died, but only a loaf of bread for the week was a bit of a challenge. Gara walked around the barracks, back then it was pretty empty, only a few other kids filled the beds, but as time wore on their numbers would increase. For now Gara was the commander over two others, Fareed Al-Shaara and himself._

 _Fareed was of Middle Eastern origin. His hair like most of the kids in the Barracks was a messy but glowing dark brown. He wore the Black Flag jacket, but over it a linen scarf from his homeland. It was filled with beautiful patterns and blended colors; Fareed always held this scarf close to him. He didn't talk much and most of the time he fiddled around with some rocks or look at a locket that belonged to his late parents. Whenever he did talk, it was mostly to reply to Gara's demands, occasionally he'd open up to Apollo, but those times were fairly rare._

 _Apollo, at the time, was still coping with the loss of his father and downward spiral of grief his mother went into. He put on a facade of strength and willingness to do what is best, but at times, it was hard to stay like that. He wanted someone to at least get his feelings off his chest with, especially someone like Shirou. Against the orders of the Big Boss, he would sneak out at night to the same hill where he and Shirou would sit out and talk, hoping one day that he'd show up. Apollo would often stay out there for hours waiting for him, but that moment would never come._

 _During those times, Apollo would look out into the stars and imagine what it was like to live in the colonies. He'd heard tales of the fantastic battles that took place in the skies above; he'd hear tales of fantasy and how the heroes of old like Kira Yamato, Athrun Zala, and Shinn Asuka would bravely fight out there in those skies, fighting for justice and freedom; he'd hear tales of the beauty of the colonies and the wealth of the people there. The world above Apollo seemed to be one that he wanted to make his home. There was nothing left for him on Onogoro Island. His home became a place of sadness and a constant reminder of the struggle to stay on the line between life and death._

 _On one night, when Apollo sneaked out of the Barracks, Fareed and Gara caught a glimpse of him in a half-asleep daze. They woke up and followed him in silence, wondering where he would go. Eventually, they came across him, sitting in a clearing on top of a lonely hill, staring at the stars. They snuck up on him and jumped onto him when they had the chance. Apollo, surprised, fell over and shoved them off._

 _"What are you doing out here," Gara asked, "why would you leave the Barracks to sit out here and look at the stars. They're just stars." Fareed sat back and nodded in agreement with Gara._

 _"They aren't just stars to me," Apollo replied, "I look at them and imagine what it must be like to leave this place, go to the colonies."_

 _"Only rich people get to go up there," Gara retorted. He didn't believe that Apollo could believe in such a naive idea. Going up to the PLANTs requires a fortune which none of them have._

 _"On this hill, I made a promise to a friend that one day we'll reach the heavens, and to one day meet him up there," Apollo said quietly, "I know this is too much to ask, but you two are all I really have left, and I have no place to return to. Will you help me meet him there?"_

 _"Will we," Fareed blared, "of course we will, you may not see it yet, but we are your brothers, Apollo." Both Gara and Apollo were astonished that Fareed could speak that loud, but he was right. Now that Apollo was a part of Black Flag, they were brothers in arms. "We are your brothers, friends, comrades, whatever. Like you, Gara and I are in this place because we have nothing left to return to either." Fareed clutched his fists around his scarf and began to cry. The sudden memory of the UHFS indiscriminately bombing his town flashed through his mind. The pain and guilt of being a survivor overwhelmed him, the unfortunate luck that he survived while everyone else in his life died, it was all too much. Gara explained this all to Apollo and struck him, "the place I call home was no more."_

 _Gara nodded and put his hand on Apollo's shoulder. "I have to agree with Fareed as well. My family was taken in by UHFS Enforcers, and I never heard from them again. Like Fareed I too don't have anything to return to." Gara sighed and rested his head against Apollo's head, "I hoped everyday that one day they'll return. Maybe if we go up there up there ourselves, I'll find them, and we'll find your friend too, Apollo." Just a little, Apollo felt like he had found a new home among his brothers in the Black Flag. Maybe, they didn't need to go up to the PLANTs at all he thought to himself._

 _"One day we'll all make it up there," Apollo said._

On the battlefield of the Sanctuary, Apollo looked at Fareed's Gundam Excalibur. "Why are you doing this Fareed," Apollo asked, "this violence, the death, why?"

"They are the reason why we have nothing left to go back to, Apollo," Fareed replied. He clutched his hands around the control sticks of the Excalibur Gundam, "I don't what they did to you in these last three months, if they brainwashed you. But isn't this what we are fighting for."

"No, Fareed, this isn't what I was fighting for," Apollo cried, "No, this isn't what I was fighting for, I just wanted to do what I could to reunite with my friend. To bring peace to my mother and provide for them. I didn't want any of this, I only joined the Black Flag for peaceful reasons, but you know why I quit, eventually I saw it for what it was. This violence only creates more violence."

"Why let the UHFS rule any longer? Look what they did to Gara's Family, what they did to my family. You should know what the UHFS did to you too. First, they denied your family access to the medication your father needed, and then they kidnap you out of nowhere and force you to go on a suicide mission in that deathtrap of a mobile suit" Fareed replied, "this injustice, I won't allow it to exist any longer." Fareed armed the Excalibur Gundam's Sword, "don't make me cut through you to destroy this abomination of a government."

"Do you remember that night on the hill," Apollo replied, "why can't we just put aside these vendettas and just live in harmony with the people here. Maybe you can even start a new home up here in the stars with the rest of us. They pardoned me and let me live among them, why won't you..."

"Enough, Apollo, don't you get it, nothing's the same. That night on the hill maybe meant something to you, but all it did was reinforce my hatred for the UHFS. They did this to us," Fareed exclaimed, "those words are just a petty memory. Nothing will change my stance on this and even if I have to cut through every living soul to get my revenge, then I'll do it." Apollo realizing that his words weren't getting across armed both of his Variable Output Beam Rifles.

"That's enough, Fareed," the Big Boss called over the communications line, "return to the Baron Quinn."

"But sir," Fareed interrupted.

Aboard the Baron Quinn, the Big Boss responded, "I won't risk my best pilot going against a new set of reinforcements and the Gundam Parallel. Return to the Baron Quinn we're pulling out." The Big Boss raised his hand and signaled for a retreat. Flares were shot out of the Baron Quinn's missile chambers and the rest of the fleet followed. All the mobile suit forces retreated along with the Excalibur Gundam and the Wolves. The Omega Gundam returned to the Ptolemaios and the battle came to an end.

"Big Boss," one of the officers queried, "what are we going to do about the Omega Model Gundam Parallel."

"I have plans for that," the Big Boss replied gruffly, "in our last hack we took the plans for the Gundam Parallel, and we think our team was able to recreate a model for us." The Big Boss adjusted his seat and continued, "let's hope that this model will keep up with that suit, it appears they changed something about it but I don't know what."

Aboard the Archangel Mikael, Captain Wengfang opened a communications channel with Captain Sumeragi of the Ptolemaios. Everyone else on the bridge looked at the screen to see who the crew of this mystery ship was. "This is Captain Zhu Wengfang of the UHFS Archangel Mikael. Who am I speaking with?"

"My name is Sumeragi Kari Morales, Captain of the Ptolemaios," Sumeragi replied. She tried her best to sound as authoritative as possible.

"I know that you have the UHFS's classified mobile suit aboard your ship and if it wasn't for the current circumstances, I'd have to order the fleet to fire on you. Can you please explain how you came in possession of the Gundam Parallel."

"We stumbled upon it," Sumeragi fumbled. She didn't really have a good explanation on how they recovered the Omega Gundam. "All I can say is that we, Celestial Being, come in peace and that if you are willing, we can talk about this over some tea." Captain Wengfang thought it about her offer for a second. They had no reason to believe they were enemies. He looked briefly at the rest of his crew on the bridge, they stared back blankly expecting a definitive answer.

"I accept your offer. We'll be sending out a mobile suit team to assist your ship in docking with the Sanctuary," Wengfang replied. "Send orders to the rest of the ships in the fleet to back down and return to the Sanctuary for repairs. Send out some Murasames to bring in the Ptolemaios. I expect we have a new ally and we should establish good relations with them."

"Yes, sir," the officer replied. Elsewhere on the Archangel, Shinji drifted around towards his living quarters aboard the Archangel. He tried to think of everything he did wrong, but it was no use, he did his best, but the other mobile suit was overwhelmingly powerful. The Strike Impulse wasn't enough for some reason, and there wasn't anything he could do to fight a mobile suit of that caliber. The Excalibur Gundam could match him no matter what he threw at it. He drifted towards the recreational area and rested on one of the couches there. Guile conveniently walks in and joins him. He hadn't yet changed out of his pilot suit and his blonde hair was dripping with sweat.

Shinji turned to him and laughed, "I think no one would guess a politician like you would like you do now, let alone smell like you do," pointing out Guile's body odor. Guile chuckled and quickly checked, his face cringed when he realized how badly he smelled.

"Yes, I guess you're right, " Guile stretched, "It's been too long since I've last flown in the Akatsuki." He lifted up a bottle of water and took a couple of sips out of it. "I'm getting too old to fly, but you guys needed all the help you can get, isn't that right, Shinji," Guile added, "I don't want my brightest pupil going to waste out there." He tapped Shinji on the shoulder, Shinji didn't respond and just looked downtrodden. "You did good, don't be disappointed. That new model and the group of custom Zaku units almost did us all in."

"Isn't there something I could've done better, Guile, " Shinji asked, "I ran through simulations of this battle countless numbers of times, I did everything I could, yet we still almost lost. If it wasn't for the entrance of that other mobile suit..."

"Well that's one thing we haven't covered, " Guile replied. He took a few more sips from his water, "it's a rather important lesson, that I'm still learning myself. Our grandparents knew this lesson better than anyone because they were so involved with war just as much as peace during their lifetimes. But the battlefield is a place full of unpredictability. One small move and ' poof' you could be dead, just plain unlucky, or in our case we were fortunate for the appearance of that ship and that red mobile suit."

"I see," Shinji sighed. He got up and stretched his arms out and sat back down. Still a bit down, but Guile's wisdom really helped him out.

"Don't sweat it," Guile concluded, "I should really get changed though. The peace conference with the other ship is going to start soon, and I want to at least look presentable to their crew, after all I'm just as much a pilot as I am a politician, and I have to carry myself that way." Shinji nodded, and Guile walked off. Shinji headed towards the exit of the Archangel and onto the Sanctuary Colony. As he crossed the sky-bridge leading into the colony, he saw the Ptolemaios stationed next to the Archangel. It was an interesting design for a ship. It looked like it had four launch pads for mobile suits, and above it were two main cannons and many missile launch pads. The bridge wasn't visible from his vantage point, but he guessed it was nestled in between two of the launch bays for protection. In the back of the ship were several conically shaped engines which didn't lead into any propulsion system he recognized. The Ptolemaios unlike the Archangel, was painted a navy blue with white beneath it. Squinting a bit, he could see the crew aboard the Ptolemaios disembarking and heading towards the Sanctuary.

Following the lit pathway, he walked into the main area of the Sanctuary colony. The artificial sun filled the sky above him and the whole building rotated around a fixed axis to maintain a gravitational pull to the surface of the colony. The scenery looked like any you could find with the exception of looking up and only seeing more land. Having lived on the PLANTs most of his life, Shinji was not surprised by the scene, but always enjoyed looking at it and imagining what it must have been like for humans in the past to even conceive such an idea as building a giant colony in the vastness of space. Despite knowing he was far away from his home colony that had fallen into Black Flag control, Shinji felt at peace here like it was his home.

Shinji continued strolling through the streets of the Sanctuary and witnessed the sorry state of the refugees. There were tents lined up around the colony and many of the houses and other buildings became shelters for others. Families were huddled together and braving the storm while others looked for relatives or anyone close to them to stay close to. The once proud people of the colonies had suddenly been stripped of everything they owned all because the Black Flag wanted some form of revenge on them. For what, Shinji asked himself, these people did nothing wrong, to go from the safety and comfort of their homes to barely surviving disgusted him, and the Black Flag claimed it as vengeance for the state the UHFS left them in after the Valentine Wars.

Shinji made his way toward the town center. The guards, recognizing his blue and white ORB Union uniform, let him into the building. Inside the banquet hall of the town center, the preparations for the meeting had already been finished with enough seats for at least the number of crew the Ptolemaios that were joining them for the meeting and seats for Shinji, Guile, and Captain Wengfang. A few moments later, Captain Wengfang emerged from the doorway with the person who appeared to be the Captain of the Ptolemaios and two others who he assumed were guards.

"This is Captain Sumeragi of the Ptolemaios, " Wengfang introduced. She wore a magenta Celestial Being Uniform with white gloves. Her brown-red hair was curled unlike usual, and she held a very commanding presence, like Captain Wengfang, but she seemed like the type of person to also have a lenient side. Beside her were her two guards, one of which was a Middle Eastern man with messy, gray hair and oddly multicolored eyes. He wore a blue version of the uniform that Sumeragi wore, but her crew became even more odd when Shinji examined the other guard. The other guard wore a red mask which covered his eyes and his long black hair was slick back and rested on his shoulders. He wore the orange uniform, but seemed less comfortable in it unlike the others, but more or less belonged in it. Upon looking at his hands, Shinji noticed that one of them was natural, but the other looked like a very advanced prosthetic hand that was textured realistically and moved almost as naturally as the other.

"You must be Shinji," Captain Sumeragi stated, "I'm Sumeragi, it's nice to meet you." She held out her hand and Shinji shook it. Then the Middle Eastern man stepped up in front of Sumeragi and held out his hand.

"Setsuna, Setsuna F. Seiei," he said. Shinji shook his hand reluctantly. The other man in the mask stood up and held out his hand. Shinji shook it and expected him to say his name, but it didn't come by.

Sumeragi introduced him, "This is Hallelujah, he's a bit of the silent type, but he was eager to join us at this conference. " Sumeragi glared at Apollo, expecting him to add more, but she realized that it was important to keep his identity a secret from the people from his home "dimension." If they found out he was alive, they'd most likely try to take him back as he is a valuable asset to the UHFS. Soon, Captain Wengfang, Shinji and Guile, escorted them into the banquet hall where they began to talk about the current state of affairs between the two parties.

Elsewhere aboard the Baron Quinn, Fareed and Gara sat in the briefing chamber where they met the Big Boss. Instead of wearing his normal trench coat and other wares, he wore a customized Black Flag military uniform with his rank as leader on it. "I have your assignments," he commanded. The Big Boss handed them two tablets with their mission being displayed on it. It displayed a lone station in orbit around Mars and a couple of ships nearby.

"What is this," Gara asked. He poked around on the tablet to get more details but his answer had yet to be received.

"These are the UHFS supply stations 'Ares One' and 'Ares Two.' Our next mission is simple, we either take the supply stations for our own or destroy them if the resistance proves to be too heavy," the Big Boss informed, "we'll be arriving from the mission launch point in a couple of weeks, rest up and get ready." The Big Boss smiled, "I trust that you two will be more than capable of completing this mission with ease." He left the room, and after a few moments, Gara and Fareed got up and left as well.

Fareed walked over to the living quarters for the Wolves. Out of the several faces that were there before the battle only a few remained. Empty beds and empty tables were all that was left. It felt like this after every battle, many of them would go into the fight proud and only a few would leave. The familiar scene had grown on Fareed, but rather than being heartbroken by the loss of his comrades, their deaths only fueled the fire for revenge in his heart. He clenched his fist and vowed that one day he'll avenge them.

Gara gave a quick glance at him; he worried about his state of mind since the day Apollo was "killed." Fareed's demeanor darkened as each day passed. Even going as far as ditching the red scarf he always used to wear, in order to further himself away from his tragic past. But that tragic past never left him, all that did was throw away the memories, the good ones, that came from that time long ago in the desert. Now that he encountered Apollo face to face on the battlefield, fighting for the enemy, there must have been some form of new development.

"Yo, Fareed," Gara said to him, "do you think that was Apollo, out there in that mobile suit. "

"If it was or wasn't doesn't matter to me," Fareed replied, "he was fighting for the enemy. He defended the man that killed so many of our own." Gara knew he was right, Apollo defended him, but knowing Apollo, it probably wasn't because he was fighting for the UHFS. Gara recalled Apollo's absolute belief in the preciousness of life. Even facing enemies sworn to kill him, Apollo never took kill shots, only disarming them when it seemed possible. Whoever was in that mobile suit, the Gundam Parallel, acted the same way, moved the same way, his voice was the same as the Apollo they knew.

"I'm sure that was Apollo out there," Gara said confidently, "I sure as hell don't want to face him in the next fight, that mobile suit he has packs some serious power."

"Then stand back there and I'll deal with him."

"Are you really ready to kill him?"

"Gara, I think you know my answer."

"But why, Fareed? Our fight is against the UHFS not against him, not against anyone from that ship."

"In that moment, when he stopped me from killing that transforming Gundam, he became friends with the enemy, claiming to find a place among them. That's b***s*** and you know it. The real Apollo would never do such a thing."

"Is that the real Apollo or is that you inserting yourself into the real Apollo," Gara replied angrily. He slammed his fist against the door, "I hate seeing you like this. I don't want you doing something you'll regret just for some personal vendetta, as if its your destiny to bring down the UHFS and kill as many as you can in the process. It doesn't sit right with me."

"How can you say that, Gara? You know what they did to your parents."

"And you know what I did. I got over it. I still fight because I have to, because without this place I don't have anything else to return to, we're too far gone."

Fareed grabbed Gara's shirt and pushed him against the wall, "the find your resolve, coward." He pulled the gun from his holster and pointed it at Gara's head, "if you don't have the resolve to kill him then I'll force you to have it."

"Look at yourself, Fareed," Gara walked up and put his head against the barrel in a threatening way, "if this is how it is then pull the trigger and fight this fight on your own. You've already decided to fight it like that."

"Don't make me do it, Gara," Fareed pushed the gun into his skull.

"You let our comrades die out there because you had to chase down that transforming mobile suit."

"Dammit Gara," he pulled back the hammer and released the safety, slowly putting pressure on the trigger.

"Those empty beds there are the result of your actions. You wanted to lead the wolves and deserted them to kill as many UHFS suits as you could on your own. I'm not surprised you'll do the same here and kill me here because I don't have the same suicidal and pointless resolve to murder each and every person claiming even a speck of loyalty to your enemy. So pull the trigger and prove to me that I'm right, you idiot." A dead air was set between them in that moment. Every second that passed grew more and more tense as Fareed was running through the options. Their muscles were tensing up as the moment the choice would be made came closer and closer. It was inevitable that Fareed would pull the trigger, but Gara wanted to only do what was best for his friend and longtime comrade. Then the time came, Gara tensed up even further.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH," Fareed yelled as he pulled the trigger, aiming it away from Gara and shooting one of the beds of the fallen wolves. Several shots rang in the living space and Fareed broke down. Gara came up to him and put his hand on his back.

"I'll follow you, Fareed. The Big Boss has shown you favor by giving you that Excalibur Gundam, but don't use its power rashly," Gara comforted, "I'll fight Apollo so you won't have to. I know how much he means to you and I. Maybe I can convince him to rejoin us here."

Then another shot rang through the room and Gara collapsed onto the ground.


End file.
